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1-1.',
Ili^Mi m m
Bequeathed to the
University of Toronto Library by the late
Theophile James Meek,
Professor of Oriental Languages,
University Colleee, 1923-1952,
and Head of the Department, 1951-1952.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2010 with funding from University of Toronto
http://www.archive.org/details/historicaljesustOOcarp
The Historical Jesus and the
Theological Christ BY J.
ESTLIN CARPENTER M.A., D.LITT., D,D., D.THEOL. Principal of Mavchci^ta- dillege, Oxfiird
BOSTON
AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION 1912
^^^^r**^*
FEB S5?5/ry
1
4 1967 OF
To^^^
PREFACE. The
Addresses which are reproduced with some
expansions in this
book, were intended to give
little
to those unacquainted with the details of historical
study some insight into the results of modern investiga-
and some knowledge
tion in the Gospel-field,
by which the
process
ecclesiastical conception of the
person of Jesus Christ was slowly formed. brief surveys
of the
much was
In such
necessarily left unsaid,
and
the relation of Jesus to our religious experience did
not
fall
If
and he
within the lecturer's scope.
any reader should
desire a fuller view of Jesus
his teaching as presented in the earliest records,
will find the
by Mr.
Commentary on
the Synoptic Gospels
C. G. Montefiore of great service
:
while from
the philosophical side a lofty and penetrating estimate is
contained in the Problems of
Human
Lije
by
Prof.
Rudolf Eucken.
My
sincerest thanks are
due to the Rev.
J.
Edwin
Odgers, D.D., for his kindness in reading through the proofs,
and giving me the advantage
of his
wide and
varied knowledge. J.
Oxford,
May
24, 1911.
E. C.
CONTENTS. I.
The Historical
page
Jesus.
Christianity a Historical Religion
9
Conditions of the Study Did Jesus never live ?
lo
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
i6
The Gospels and the BeUefs of their Age The Nature of their Testimony to a Historical Person .
.
•
II. Jesus and the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist and Jesus i. The Kingdom of God ii. The Preaching of Jesus iii. The Kingdom as a spiritual Rule iv. At Caesarea Philippi V. The Coming of the Son of Man
vi.
The Alleged
Failure of Liberal Christianity.
III. The Theological An Anolagous Development i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
V.
IV.
60 62 73 83
87
94 .
.102
'
.
113 118 125 131 .
a.d.
-137 .
iii.
iv.
The Council
ii.
V. vi. vii.
Modem
of Chalcedon, 451 a.d
Difficulties
and Ancient Solutions
Theories of Kenosis The Sub-conscious Self
Conclusion
159
The Doctrine of the Two Natures.
and the Roman Empire Factors in the Dogmatic Settlement Opposite Methods of approaching the Problem. Nestorius and Cyril
Christianity i.
47
Christ.
Complex influences in Judaism The Apostle Paul The Divine King The Son of God in the Fourth Gospel The Advance of the Logos-Theology up to 325 '
Z7
.
177 179 183 189 193
.
.
.201 208 220
229
1
THE HISTORICAL JESUS Christianity,
New
Testament,
Whatever of
else
it
through the
he
may
be in the eternal counsels
to the definitions of the creeds
Jesus of Nazareth belongs to a
particular country
he sprang from a particular
;
he belonged to a particular age
;
It pro-
a historical religion.
is
God according
of the Church,
people
receive
be derived from a particular person.
to
fesses
we
as
circumstances of his
life,
his
;
and the
spoken word, the
events of his career from birth to death, can be
known
to us only through testimony.
may
ever he believer,
appear
now
And what-
to the experience of the
whether in the mystical communion of
the Eucharist, or in the EvangeUcal experiences of forgiveness and justification,
we can apprehend ence
is
what he was on earth
only by evidence.
summed up
That evid-
for us in the Gospels
;
they
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
10
have
generated
explanation
a
but
;
gigantic
not too
it is
only within the last
literature for
much
their
to say that
country,
fifty years, in this
has their reasoned study been established.
(i)
over half a century since Benjamin
It is just
Jowett, then Regius Professor of Greek in the University
of
Oxford,
principle in Essays
New
laid
down
and Reviews {i860) that the
Testament must be interpreted
other book.
famous
the
The saying appears
has far-reaching applications.
like
For
we
if
study the Gospels to reconstruct the teaching of Jesus as of
we study
Xenophon and the Dialogues
stand Socrates, or the
—we
the Memorabilia of Plato to under-
the
Scriptures of
the control of the Church.
We
to
cease
to
Gotama
hundreds
of
dogmatic develop-
read them with the pre-
by
later theological decrees,
expound them on the
devised
Three
We no longer apply to
of a long
suppositions supplied or
and
at once take the records out of
them the standards ment.
it
are to
life
Baskets to realize the person and work of
the Buddha,
any
simple, but
basis
formulae
of
years later in
a
totally
— CONDITIONS OF MODERN STUDY
by the methods Not without tion of Essays after
We
and moral atmosphere.
different intellectual
bring them into the
II
field of history,
and
test
them
of scientific investigation.
was
significance
it
that the publica-
and Reviews followed in a few months
Darwin had issued the Origin
of
Species.
That book, as aU the world knows, opened a new era in
many departments
of enquiry.
It
gave to
the conception of evolution, which had haunted
many minds, a clear and What was the bearing of this so
was transferred from the of history
?
Among
definite relation
their age. their
definite expression.
conception when
field of
organic
other results
it
life
it
to that
estabUshed a
between great personalities and
However much they may transcend
environment of contemporary thought
practice, they are reared in
language, they start with its religious beliefs
and
it,
they must speak
its ideas,
its
or its
they react upon
moral standards.
The
message of Jesus took one form because he was born a Jew and not a Greek
;
it
has another
because he was bred in Nazareth and not in Alexandria.
The study
of
the
life
of
Jesus
stimulated by the works of Continental scholars
(Renan, Strauss, and Keim, to
name but
three
THE HISTOEICAL JESUS
12
most important)
of the
sued upon fresh
—was A
lines.
consequently pur-
amount
vast
was devoted to the reconstruction and the age
in
which he had
of
energy
of the scene
In connexion
lived.
with the historical investigation of the Old Testa-
ment
the
explored
;
mapped
was
country
were
places
examined, and inscriptions tories of
tions of
monuments
collected.
The
his-
Josephus and the prodigious accumula-
Talmudic
were searched for whatever
lore
The
could illustrate the Gospel story. of
were
sites
;
identified,
institutions
government, the trades and industries of the
and
people, their schools
and
sects,
were
contemporary ceremonial
all
investigated in the light of
record
of
or
Temple
Sabbath meeting
teachers, their parties
later
and
tradition.
feast,
the
The
simple
in the S5niagogue, the ritual of
public worship and the prayers of private devotion, disclosed the fundamental conceptions of national
and personal
piety.
Moreover, a whole series of
works came into view, extending from the book of Daniel in the
middle of the second centur}'
B.C.
to the age immediately following the great catas-
trophe which involved the overthrow of the Jewish State
when Jerusalem
fell
in
the year 70 a.d.
MATERIALS FOR GOSPEL STUDY
Under ancient names book
found
in our
from foreign
and an age
Enoch, the Twelve
like
Solomon, Baruch and others
Patriarchs, Moses, (the fourth
I3
or II Esdras, will be
of Ezra,
Apocrypha), the hope of deliverance of resurrection
rule,
kingdom
of blessedness in the
found passionate expression
and judgment of
God,
and the study
;
of
the apocalyptic literature in the age preceding
and following the
lifetime of Jesus has
a flood of light upon
much
thrown
of the language of the
Gospels and the faith of the early Church.
The
enquiry into the relations of the earliest narratives of
and the sources which
career,
Jesus'
their
authors employed, has shown that these docu-
ments, like other records of the personages of antiquity, contain elements of various worth,
cannot be regarded as in the In
particular
it
is
clear
Fourth
is
marked
off
strict sense historical.
while
that
semblances unite the First
from
and
many
re-
Three Gospels, the its
predecessors
by
wide divergences in the sequence of the events of Jesus' ministry
and
among
the
Lastly,
in the nature of his teaching.
influences
which have con-
tributed to the truer comprehension of the Gospels
we must
include the rise into view of other historic
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
14 religions,
some
embracing
of
them covering mighty empires,
hundreds
miUions
of
beHevers,
of
New
founded on scriptures more ancient than our Testament, and begetting less
rites
enduring than those
The modern student may whole continent
the
;
Persia, the cults of
upon the
who
no
itself.
cast his glance over a
—more may
is still
institutions
Christianity
scriptures
of Babylonia,
figure
and
Egypt and
sophies of Greece, and
mythology
of
of
India and
Syria, the philostill
—the
throw some
light
ancient
all
central in the history
of religion.
A
vast mass of
new
materials has thus
become
available for the student of the Gospel story. is
frankly recognized that the
New Testament
contains elements from various sources.
imaginative
seer like the
It
A
great
author of the Apocalypse
constructs his marvellous pictures with symbols of
many
secrets
;
We may
kinds.
the origins of the traditional emblems
which he employs his
own
not always divine his
eyes.
may have
been often hid from
They have been combined and
recombined in various successive forms, and have behind them an immense antiquity.
There are
scenes in the Gospels which seem no less mythical.
HISTORY AND MYTH There
is
a grotto at Nazareth where a silver star
shines in the marble floor.
It is encircled
inscription, also in silver letters,
factum
I5
est,
'
by an
Hie Verhum caro
on this spot the Word was made
flesh.'
Here Roman Catholic tradition locates the miracle of
the
From
But
Incarnation.
this
not
is
history.
the miraculous conception of Jesus to his
ascension
into the
sky,
his
life
appears to be
We
enveloped in a radiant haze of myth. necessarily ignorant of
know
many
We
things.
are
do not
within a margin of some years the dates of
his birth or death.
The length
of his public career
cannot be determined with any certainty. the particulars of a biography in the
All
modern sense
But we may have the same kind
are wanting.
of
assurance that Jesus taught in Galilee, and was crucified
under Pontius
was emperor Athens
Rome,
Augustus
or that Socrates died in
after drinking the hemlock.
But the two
of
Pilate, as that
sides.
historian finds himself challenged
On
the one
hand he
that no such person ever existed his career
show that he
is
is :
from
plumply told the events of
only a humanized deity,
provided (no one knows how) with a local base in Galilee,
and credited with a mass
'of
teaching
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
l6
such as formed the
And on of
common
store of a Jewish rabbi.
we
are assured that Jesus
the other hand
Nazareth was no other than the Second Person
of the Trinity
that he was at
Man.' Their
Here full
is
incarnate in a
the same time
'
human being, so God and very
very
an immense range of possibUities.
discussion
would require a volume.
They involve the most complicated and problems is
:
intricate
in the brief limits of four lectures
only practicable to state in the briefest
some present-day
it
way
solutions.
(ii)
More than two generations ago David Frederick Strauss in his famous Life of Jesus (1835) applied to
many
of the Gospel stories the
mythological
key which converted them from records into symbols of ideas.
It
was an
effective
against the crude rationalism of the
the last century.
first
of fact
weapon part of
Nearly thirty years later (1864)
he retold the tale in somewhat different fashion,
with more strenuous emphasis upon the Teacher's words.
been the
But the first
lines of
enquiry which he had
to open, led
Bruno Bauer,
after a
long series of studies, to present the figure of Jesus
CHALLENGED
HIS REALITY
I7
(1878) as an ideal blended of Jewish, Greek,
Roman
elements.
own
In our
and
country, during
the last decade, Mr. J. M. Robertson poured the results of his
wide reading into two volumes de-
signed to show that various elements from different oriental cults
had been fused together around an
imaginary personality
while
;
Germany
in
the
brave voice of Pastor Kalthoff at Bremen was
heard pleading that Jesus and his gospel were the symbolic embodiment of
new
social aspirations
begotten out of the economic distresses of the
Roman of
In America Prof.
Empire.
Tulane University,
New
W.
B. Smith,
Orleans, sought
to
prove the existence of a widespread pre-Christian cult of a divine Jesus,
and
his
arguments have been
recently reproduced and expanded of Carlsruhe,
recently
by
Prof, Drews,
whose book The Christ-Myth has
aroused
an animated discussion.
But
before dealing with these arguments a few words
must be
said concerning
an attack from another
quarter on a very different
line.
Five years ago Prof. Jensen, of Marburg, one of the foremost Assyriologists of
lished the first
volume
of
Germany, pub-
an immense
treatise
(it
contained more than a thousand pages) on a B
'
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
l8
famous poem
of
Babylonian antiquity known as
have been
the Gilgamesh Epic.
It is believed to
in existence at least
two thousand years before
our in
The
era.
was king
hero, Gilgamesh,
of
Erech
South Babylonia, and the poem dealt with
adventures and those of his friend Eabani. tablets of the in the story
;
poem
his
Some
are lost, and there are gaps
but the famous narrative of the
Deluge, discovered by Mr. George Smith in 1872,
belonged to the
In the view of Prof.
series.
Jensen this poem has been the parent of innumerable tales, running through wide ramifications of
west,
The
north,
and south, betrays
personalities of the
and again
built
and
patriarch
again
;
lands, east,
its
influence.
Old Testament are again
up on
king, in
and Elisha, the forms live
many
Story after story in
literature.
ancient pair.
this
Moses and Aaron, of
and the same
In
in Elijah
Gilgamesh and Eabani origin
is
proclaimed for
the supposed founders of the Christian Church.
Unable to secure the attention Prof.
Jensen has appealed to the laity in a
pamphlet
entitled
'
Moses,
Variants of the Babylonian (1909).
of the theologian,
Jesus,
Paul,
Three
God-man Gilgamesh
Without any inquiry into the
literary
SUPPOSED CUNEIFORM PARALLELS origins
the Gospels,
of
the
or
I9
authenticity of
New
the letters of Paul, the documents of the
Testament are flung away as inconsistent with
The Evangelic
the theory.
being
who never
correspondence
what grounds
method
the
:
the narra-
historical foundation.
presented in the In page
parallels.
of the
Gospel
Elijah
Baby-
Likenesses no doubt there are, and
lonian saga.
incidents in legend
and
folk-tale all
round
Details in the careers of Moses
the globe.
may
?
page and
after
story are placed over against those of the
common
On
much vaunted
column the incidents
after
;
apostolic
are these large assertions based
is
of
column
lived
a mass of forgeries
have no
tives in Acts
The answer
is
really
traditions describe a
well
But who
tion of Jesus.
and
have influenced the presentav will believe
the simple
sequences of the Galilean lake to have originated
out of the following parallels collected by Prof.
Jensen
(p.
Eabani
returns
wilderness
the
A
home
28)
to
his
?
from the dwelling,
of Gilgamesh.
plague of fever,
.
.
Jesus
The mother-in-law
Xisu-
sick of a fever
is
humanity, by which probably
heals her.
is
stopped.
from
the .
.
.
.
thros intercedes for suffering
the plague
returns
wilderness to his home.
of Peter
and Jesus
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
20
A
Xisuthros builds himself a ship and keeps
ready.
it
immediate friends enters the ship one evening.
A
his
storm
arises
Xisuthros
A
his dwelling.
and most
of the animals, including the
swine,
are
drowned
in
the
arises
Such ever.
parallels,
any kind tale of
of
falls.
Two thousand demons or more, and two thousand swine are drowned in the lake over sailed.
have no value what-
it is plaiii,
Prof. Jensen
and
home.
which Jesus
flood.
The
storm
Jesus lands in Persea, the other side of the lake from his
Sinful humanitj'
kept ready for
the boat one evening,
falls.
with his
lands
from
familj' far
and
is
Jesus and his disciples enter
Xisuthros with his family
and
boat
Jesus.
makes no attempt
to establish
connexion through Hterary history.
Noah follows the Mesopotamian
version
of the flood in one incident after another, so that its
dependence cannot be questioned.
But be-
tween the Deluge as a world-judgment, sweeping
away a
sinful race,
Galilee,
there
is
and a storm on the Lake
not a particle of resemblance.
Moreover, the destruction of the Gadarene swine in
no way connected with the
and the danger
of
of the boat
between the legion
of
;
rise
there
of the is
no
is
wind
parallel
demons and the multitude
SUPPOSED CUNEIFORM PARALLELS
human kind, and the among the animals that
specification of the swine
of
perished as the source of
the miracle ascribed to Jesus
The
extreme.
grotesque in the
is
ends
abruptly
series
21
To
entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
before the
the scenes of
the last days the Gilgamesh story offers not the
There remain, however, a
faintest resemblance.
few
Some
Jensen admits, must have said the
Prof.
things set
Sermon on the Mount.
the
trifles like
one,
down
Let us agree that
to Jesus.
it
was not anyone who was miraculously born or Such a Jesus doubt-
mysteriously transfigured. less
never lived.
But the student
learns to dis-
tinguish between history and myth.
From
a totally different point of view does Prof.
Drews attempt
He
religion,
his
avowedly
writes
monism.
to demonstrate a similar thesis.^ in
and advocates a
He
finds
name
lofty
Christian
mode
The
London
Christ (1910).
the reader
may
of
spiritual
of idealistic
theology blocking
way, and he seeks therefore to
by demonstrating that 1
the
clear the
path
central figure has
its
no
Myth, translated by C. Delisle Bums, M.A.,
For a more extended be referred to a
'
criticism of this
reply
Rossington, M.A., B.D., Did Jesus really
'
work
by Mr. Herbert live ?
J.
London, 191 1.
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
22
In one sense, indeed, he proposes
place in history. to interpret
and develop the Christian conception
He
of redemption.
God's
as
history
conceives the world's activity
He
activity.
filled
drama
the
presents
of
with pain and struggle as the long In each
Passion of Deity.
human
soul
suffers, conquers, and dies, that he
over limitation and
God
fights,
may triumph
In thus universalizing
evil.
the conflict which the Church has seen imperson-
ated in Christ, the author claims to preserve historical continuity
no
less
than the Hberal Christian
who
discards from the Gospels
the
twentieth
century,
what does not
and
only
keeps
modern thought does not compel him The ministry
of Jesus
is
suit
what
to reject.
described in our four
Gospels under the presupposition that he was the Christ or Messiah.
that our
critic
in detail,
It
might have been expected
would have analysed
this conception
and would have examined the various
forms which
it
had assumed
in the Uterature of
elder
prophecy
much
to be said on this theme,
or
later
apocalypse.
There
is
and investigation
has recently been busy with the hterature in which the mysterious form of the Son of
Man
appears
seated on a heavenly throne beside the Ancient
'
'
Here
Days.^
of
THE CHRIST MYTH
Christ-myth
'
and
;
2$
beginning of
the
truly,
is,
proper
'
Prof.
a
Drews has no
group of ideas which
difficulty in connecting the
gathers round this central figure with the conceptions
of
and judgment which be-
resurrection
longed to the great scheme for the close of the long conflict between Ahura omniscient
')
and the
Mazda
(the
'
Lord
Spirit of Evil (Afiramainyu)
But we learn afterwards
in the theology of Persia.
with astonishment that both the Persian expecta-
and the Jewish
tion of a deliverer (Saoshyant)
doctrine of a Messiah rest '
upon a prophecy accord-
ing to which Vishnu Jesudu
(l)^
was to be
a Brahmin in the city of Skambelam
There
is
no such prophecy.
to Sanskrit.
If
by the
'
Jesudu
'
is
(p.
bom 107).
unknown
ancient sacred poem,
the Bharta Chastram,' which Prof. Drews vaguely cites as his authority,
known
he means the great epic
as the Mahabharata,^ the late prophecy
that Vishnu will become incarnate in a Brahmin 1
The English reader
Journal
will
2
This note of admiration
3
Chastram sounds
shastra.
find a valuable article in
of Theological Studies, Oct., 1910,
like
is
Prof.
the
by Dr. W. V. Hague.
Drews's ovra,
a French rendering of the Sanskrit
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
24 family
no antecedent
of course,
is,
either of the
Hebrew
eschatology of the Zend Avesta or of Messianic
Misstatements
hope.
compel the student to care
test
such
these
as
every assertion with
and when the argument passes from the
;
conception of Christ to the person of Jesus, the result does not inspire confidence in the \vriter's
accuracy.
His main thesis
is
cognate with that of Mr. J. M.
Robertson in his volumes on Christianity and Mythology
(1900)
and
Pagan
Christs
supplemented by the investigations
Smith under the
title
Der
(1903),
of Prof.
Vorchristliche
Prior to the Gospel story or the
(1906).
the Apostle Paul,
it is
W.
B.
Jesus
work
of
alleged, there existed a wide-
spread cult of Jesus as a deity in Jewish sects
The name Jesus Joshua
^
;
and
is
its
the Greek form of the application to a deity
back to the successor
Hebrew
is
carried
of Moses, interpreted as
an
ancient Ephraimitic god of the sun and fruitfulness.
But even supposing Joshua to be a mythical
figure,
no proof
1
is
offered of
any worship founded
The reader need hardly be reminded that
occurrence
;
it
is
reckoned
that
the
mentions twenty different persons so
it is
of
historian
called.
common Josephus
THE CHRIST MYTH
'
on
his
in
2$
subsequent periods of Israel's his-
The High
tory. (in
name
'
Joshua to
Priest
our present text
of rebuilding the
vi. 12^)
Temple,
is
Branch,' by which Jeremiah
whom
Zechariah
assigns the function
indeed called
had
(xxiii. 5)
'
the
desig-
nated a prince of the Davidic house, but this supplies
no basis
Jessaioi
for a secret cult.
What
then of the
and the Nazoraioi (Nazarenes) described
by Epiphanius, bishop 403 A.D.)
?
The good
confused, and Prof.
Cyprus (died
of Salamis in
father
was apt
Drews adds to
to
be
his confusion.
Epiphanius certainly states that the Nazoraioi
were called Jessaioi before they were called Christians at Antioch,
and he
fancifully derives their
designation from Jesse or Jesus (the reader will
hardly need to be reminded that
in
Hebrew
Yishai and Yehoshua were quite different names).
Such an Jesse
et3niiology supplies
or
Jesus
was
a
no proof that either Moreover,
cult-god.
Epiphanius's younger contemporary Nilus (died 430) gives a very different account.
him the
According to
Jessaioi were not Christians at
all,
but a
kind of posterity of Jonadab, living in tents, 1
Prof.
Drews
included the
rightly points out that the passage originally
name
of Zerubbabel (p. 58).
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
26
abstaining from wine and other luxuries like the
Rechabites of old, eariy exemplars of the simple life.
Without noticing
this conflict of testimony,
however, Prof. Drews advances one step further,
and
that
affirms
the
Nazarenes
were,
'
as
Epiphanius shows, in existence long before Christ,
and had no knowledge statement
founded
is
of
him
'
(p.
59).
The
on a misunderstanding.
Epiphanius distinguishes between the Christian
named
Nazoraioi and a Jewish sect
who
Nasaraioi,
lived east of the Jordan, practised circum-
cision,
observed Sabbaths and
feasts,
but rejected
animal food and sacrifices,and declared the Penta-
These Nasaraioi, says Epiphanius,
teuch a forgery.
were older than Christ. the Nazarenes
falls
The
alleged proof from
to pieces.^
WTiat, then, of the phrase 'the things concerning Jesus
'
Have we not
?
in this, argues Prof.
Smith, indisputable evidence of an earlier faith 'According to
all
the expression of Jesus
1
of
Space
' ;
is
it
appearance,'
we
are
assured,
has no reference to the history
only means the doctrines concern-
lacking here to investigate the confused statements
Epiphanius
Prof.
'
'
?
Drews as
;
it
is
only necessary to deal with those of
his interpreter.
THE CHRIST MYTH ing him.'
form of
It involves, therefore,
belief in a Jesus
certainly curious that
story of the '
woman
it
'
27 a pre-Christian
'
If so it is
(pp. 62-63).
should
first
occur in the
with an issue of blood, who,
having heard the things concerning Jesus, came
crowd behind and touched
in the
{Mark butes
who
V. 27). it
his
garment
In the second instance Luke
to the disciples
related to their
*
attri-
on the way to Emmaus,
unknown companion
'
the
things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
God
a prophet mighty in deed and word before
and
all
same
the people
'
{Luke xxiv,
19).
Rome
writer's phrase, taught at
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
These
'
Paul, in the '
the things
{Acts xxviii. 31).
may certainly, in the apostle's mouth, have much beside a recital of traditions but
included there
is
;
no reason
for refusing
to this passage
the meaning which the words obviously bear in those just cited.
must be quoted. Apollos,
One more
instance,
however,
Did not the learned and zealous
knowing only the baptism
of John,
speak
boldly in the synagogue at Ephesus and teach *
the things concerning Jesus
This Jesus,
it is
'
{Acts xviii. 25)
affirmed, could be
John, no prophet and Messiah
no successor
crucified
and
?
of
risen,
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
28 or
ApoUos would have already received Christian
initiation
he must have been the centre of a secret
;
among Jews and
doctrine cherished
more than a hundred years
!
That
ence to draw from slender data.
Hellenists for
is
a large infer-
There
is
no proof
that Christian preaching was always accompanied
by baptism. Christ
The
apostle
had sent him not
the Gospel
(I
Cor.
Jesus,' accordingly,
new believers and without any
17).
i.
that
to baptize but to preach '
The things concerning
by them
baptism.
disciples of the Baptist
into fresh circles
This was not neces-
sarily at the outset conferred
The
declared
might have been imparted to
carried
rite of
Paul
upon every
one.
were evidently spread
over a wider area than the Gospel traditions have occasion to describe
;
and some twelve
of
them
at
Ephesus were apparently associated with the Christian brethren
{Ads
xix. 1-3) without
having
received anything more than John's baptism of
repentance.
the
name
Paul proceeded to baptize them into
of the
Lord Jesus, but we do not read
that Aquila or the brethren at Ephesus had found it
necessary to baptize ApoUos before sending him on
with commendatory letters to Corinth (xviii.26,27).
The plea for a secret
Jesus-cult seems to lack proof.
THE CHRIST MYTH
'
'
29
Undeterred, however, by the scantiness of his evidence,
Drews beUeves himself able
Prof.
to
account for the whole story of the death of Jesus
—no attempt
is
made
his public ministry
to explain the incidents of
— out of the conception of the
d5dng God, which belonged to various cults in
Western Asia.
This
of the fire-god
Agni (Latin
Aryan hymns
of
that
told
Christ
nothing
'
Agnus
very
is
else
Agni
'
traced back to the worship
the
ignis) in the ancient
and we are
Rig Veda, the
Dei,
frequently
than Agni Deus,
in a certain for
is
Lamb
of
called,
is
since
God, as in
fact
Agnus stands
measure as the Latin translation
(p.
cp.
145,
161).
p.
Every school-
boy knows that such an equation
is
The confidence with which unsupported assertions
who have not
the
may
means
at
impossible.
Prof.
Drews makes
easily
beguUe those
hand
of testing his
statements, and one instance must suffice to put readers on their guard.
we
The
details of the Passion,
are assured, are certainly unhistorical
derision, 1 the
flagellation,
' :
the
both the thieves, the
crying out on the cross, the sponge with vinegar {Ps.
Ixix.
the
21), 1 Is.
1.
6 sq.
piercing with a * Zech. xii. 10.
lance,^
the
THE HISTORICy^L JESUS
30
soldiers casting dice for the
also the
women
dead man's garments,
at the place of execution
and at
the grave, the grave in a rock, are to be found in just the
same form
Attis, Mithras,
and
in the
Osiris
antiquity say about
'
worship of Adonis,
What
(p. 241).
these deities
does
?
According to one account Adonis was slain
by a
wild boar, sent against
him by
jealous Ares.
According to another, he perished through Artemis, goddess
of
the
According
chase.
to
a
third,
Apollo transformed himself into a boar and killed
him. Attis
owed
his death in one story to the anger
whose daughter Kybele
of the king of Phrygia
he had betrayed.
A
variant of the Adonis tale
ascribed his death also to a wild boar, sent to
who was
jealous of the
honour paid to him by the Lydians.
The Christian
destroy
him by
Zeus,
writer Arnobius relates a brutal legend from an
mythologist, Timotheus, in which Attis
unknown unmans
himself in frenzy,
and
dies
beneath a
pine tree.
Mithras does not appear to have died at
The
brilliant
upon
all.
scholar who has thrown so much light
his mysteries. Prof.
Franz Cumont, describes
—
1
'
him,
when
THE CHRIST MYTH
'
3
his earthly labours are completed, as
celebrating their close at a final meal with Helios
and the other companions is
borne by the Sun
Then he
of his toil.
in his shining car across the
ocean to the heavenly height, and ascends to the
sky without passing through the gates of death.
The ancient Egyptian
texts have
about the resurrection of the
mode
in
It is
the author of the treatise on
well-known
the
Typhon induced him
made
chest
and
that
known
is
Plutarch
Isis
tale
to say
but the story of
Osiris,
which he was done to death
only in a late Greek form.
relates
much
(if
he be
Osiris)
his
who
brother
in sport to enter a splendid
exactly to
fit
his person, shut
down
the lid with the help of his confederates, and sent it
by one
arms
of the Nile into the sea.
The statement that the
details of the Christian
forth
narrative are
of the
all
to be found in one or other of these
mythologic groups, suggests the following questions
:
Which
of the four deities
Which was scourged Which
suffered
?
?
between two thieves
Which uttered a dying
To which was
was mocked
cry
?
?
a sponge offered with vinegar
?
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
32
Which was
pierced with a lance after death
For whose garments did the
soldiers cast dice
At whose execution were women present
Which was buried Until
these
summary
in the Creed,
who was
'
it is
?
?
?
be answered, the
questions can
supported as
Pilate,'
a rock
in
?
Crucified under Pontius
by the
historian Tacitus,
a boy in the cruel days of Nero,
may
be
allowed to stand.^
Concerning another element in the Gospels Prof. the preaching of the kingdom of
Drews
is silent,
God.
The conception
rising
God which he
of a suffering, dying,
and
desires to disengage as the
type of universal Christian experience, belongs to a different order of ideas from that of the approaching catastrophe, the end of the world-age, the
Man from
advent of the Son of resurrection
and the judgment.
the sky,
the
In this respect
great importance attaches to the testimony of
the Apostle 1
Paul.
He
wrote to the Galatians
This does not of course imply that
are of equal historic worth.
at least to a possible source for of
some
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 44), has of
as an interpolation.
treatment.
all
the Gospel details
Prof. Drews' o\vn references point
But no
of them.
The evidence
course to be discredited
serious historian
supports that
'
that on his
THE CHRIST MYTH
'
33
to Jerusalem after his con-
first visit
and
version he stayed a fortnight with Peter,
saw James, the Lord's brother.^ is
This statement
conclusive as to the historical reality of Jesus,
unless
can be set aside.
it
modes
three
weakening
of
The term
(i)
'
brother
ployed in the sense of
any family
Prof.
'
'
Drews suggests
its force.
may have
follower,'
been em-
without implying
Doubtless the term of
relationship.
intimate affection was used to characterize the
members '
Christian fellowship
of the
brethren one of another.'
But there
who were is
no trace
of this usage in connexion with Jesus himself.
Peter and John, who, with James, were reputed to be
'
pillars,'
nowhere bear the name of the
Lord's brothers. (2)
The passage may be an
this there is
interpolation.
Of
No known
not a particle of evidence.
manuscript, no version, no patristic quotation, suggests any disturbance of the text. (3)
letters
But perhaps the whole group belongs
Drews does not to
offer
meet the vague 1
the
to
Mentioned
in
any
second proof,
of Pauline
century.
and
it is difficult
allegations sometimes
Mark
vi. 3,
Matt.
Prof.
xiii. 55.
c
made
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
34
on behalf
of this view,
of the letters
is
such as that the atmosphere
Two
that of a later day.
themes,
however, which again and again appear in these
documents, seem specifically to belong to the
The admission
early history of the Church.
of
the Gentiles without subjection to the Jewish law, which
argued so passionately in the letter
is
to the Galatians,
was soon
settled, as the
Fourth
Gospel shows, in favour of the principle of Uberty. Before the second century set
And
had disappeared. speedy advent of
prominent a place
which occupies so
'
in the Apostle's hope, is alto-
gether imsuited to a time
accommodating
the controversy
the expectation of the
the Lord
'
in,
itself
when the Church was
preparing for the responsibilities existence in this world.
Thessalonians
iv.
and
to the existing scene, of
continued
The eschatology
of
I
15-17 would be entirely out of
keeping
in
the
difficult
to
harmonize the
second
century.
It
may
be
of
the
description
—the —and the
descent of Jesus from the sky with a shout archangel's
mystical
life
the hidden
with
it
summons, the trumpet-blast of the Christ
spirit,
who
is
formed within,
given in baptism and carrying
the germ of a
new
creation.
But
it
appears
THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL impossible
eliminate
to
the
personal
from the Apostle's thought.
we
are told,
'
is
elements
Man's Saviour,*
'
not historical, as St. Paul
tired of reiterating.'^
But he
though he does not
add
assures
35
the Thessalonians
'
him
calls
of
that
never
is
Jesus,
He
Nazareth.'
he
deliver
will
them from the coming wrath, and the Philippians that he will transform their earthly bodies to
resemble his glorious body, just as he
met
Galatians that he had
salem the
The repeated
!
not
shall
all sleep,
in a
moment,
last
trump
in
the
parousia,
'
references to the cross
details
of
all
but we shall
great assize,
To '
treat
name
him
'
is
'
we
an eye, at the
{Rom.
Christ,
to hold the
is
day when God
in the
ii.
my
shall judge
gospel,
by
i6).
therefore,
as
for the consciousness of the
simply Paul's Divine within
to ignore one very important aspect of the
Apostle's message. ticipation 1
'
imply definite external events,
the secrets of men, according to
Jesus Christ
and
be changed,
all
which a known historic person '
— advent
the
in the twinkling of
—
the
tells
his brother in Jeru-
of
It
Christ's
was the impassioned anspeedy return
— even
Dr. Anderson, in the Hibberi Journal, Jan., 191
1,
from
p. 350,
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
36
Roman
his
at
hand
power
prison Paul
{Phil. iv. 5)
'
still
writes
is
—which supplied the motive-
of his preaching,
and hurried him from
The submission
land to land.
The Lord
'
of such a being to
a shameful death which could not be inflicted on
Roman
himself as a
which
filled
was an actual incident
citizen,
him with awe and
same with our Synoptic
It is the
love.
They
narratives.
are
something more than pictorial illustrations of
There can be no doubt
the growth of the soul.
that the Evangelists believed themselves to be describing
the
of
life
The
an actual person.
descent of the Spirit into Jesus at the Baptism
was unquestionably just
Mark a was
the wondrous birth
as
Stories
for
literal
event,
Matthew.
for
no doubt there are which we interpret as
symbols
;
the Temptation, the multiplication of
the loaves, the walking on the water, the withering of
No
the fig-tree.
distinction
was drawn
at
that time between historic accuracy and devout edification.
of
his
view,
Each Evangelist has selects
traditions,
effect.
It
may
to
his
produce
a
his
own
point
and
disposes
specific
religious
materials,
be granted that the
earliest nar-
ratives were not shaped until Paul's letters
had
'
THE SYNOPTIC NARRATIVES been written.
But there
is
37
no trace
these
in
books that the writers supposed themselves to be depicting internal experiences instead of out-
ward
They
facts.
with a real
concerned
are
may relate of him unreal events.
being though they
Unlike the
Fourth Evangelist they hint at no
differences
between
They
things.
social
sinners Self
'
'
'
and
to do with the
'
'
publicans
and
finding of the Universal
Sever the symbol from history, and a
?
of imagery,
be gone
cherish
it
in their
but for the majority it
;
may
its
will cast it
chambers
power
out like
salt
which has
;
lost its savour,
be trodden in the mire under their
will
will
human form men
no longer present a
will
experience in a universally intelligible
it
heavenly
special type of religious
What have
life.
few refined minds
and
'
are planted firmly on a particular
and engaged with a
scene,
and
earthly
'
feet.
(iii)
We
turn then to the Gospels and ask for their
testimony.
The
differences
between the First
Three and the Fourth no longer need reiterated display.
bedded
Whatever
historical
in the latter, it rests
data
may
lie
em-
upon the former even
— THE HISTORICAL JESUS
38 while
it
may (as some think) correct them
and the
;
witness to the reaUty of the person must be sought in the eariier rather
than the latest works.
almost universal consent
by various methods
—an
agreement reached
and from
investigation
of
By
very different theological and ecclesiastical pre-
Mark
suppositions
presents the oldest view of
the public career of Jesus.
edition,
was employed,
It
in
an
earlier
by the other Evangelists who
are
known
whether in
existing
its
to us under the
form or
names Matthew and Luke.
tradition of the
Church supposed
it
to
The
embody
the recollections of Peter, reduced after his death into consecutive story
probably at Rome.
by
It
his interpreter
Mark,
doubtless also contains
various elements which cannot be ascribed to the
reminiscences
of
an eye-witness
discourse on the last things in traces of dependence
;
and the long
Mark
of Jewish or Jewish-Christian origin.
considerations lead to the belief that substantially
its
xiii.
bears
on some document, probably
But various it
present contents and
acquired character
soon after the great catastrophe of the overthrow of Jerusalem in the year 70 a.d.^ 1
See the Table in The Bible in
the
Nineteenth Century, p. 340.
— THE FIRST THREE GOSPELS the
other Gospels of
Luke a second
document would
In the composition
Matthew and
39
of
seem to have been employed besides the Marcan for they
narrative,
nificant teaching in
contain a quantity of sig-
common, which seems
by assuming the use
explained
of the sayings of Jesus, such as in
more than one form
The scope conceived
made
may have
is
existed
indeed variously
modern students
but
more and more
of a collection
in different Christian circles.
of this collection
;
best
to the
coming
are
conclusion that
before the earliest of
was
it
our First Three Gospels
was written, and was probably used (whether directly or in
by the author
Matthew and Luke followed
our Mark, order
reminiscence)
—in what
not possible to decide with certainty
it is
and both were probably written before the century ran received
of
out,
though
some additions
at
Matthew
first
may have
an even later date.
These books are naturally the product of their
The
writers share the culture of their time
;
they gather up traditions from varying sources
;
age.
and they look out upon a world very from ours.
Over
it
rises
heavens above the sky.
different
a vast pile of seven
Contemporary
literature
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
40
There in their several
describes their occupants.
orders dwelt the principalities and powers, the
thrones and lordships, which loomed before the
There in the
imagination of the Apostle Paul.
heaven lay the paradise into which he
third
beheved himself to have been caught up, whether in the
body
or out of the
Thence, too,
body he could not
tell.
heavenly messengers might descend
to earth, like Gabriel, one of the four great Angels
And
from the topmost height.
of the Presence
might the risen Messiah be conveyed
thither
through the
air,
appeared from
till,
wrapped
he
dis-
sight.
Not even the powers ever, were all
in cloud,
good
:
was invaded by that
of the
upper worlds, how-
and the sovereignty
of
God
of the Opposer, the Satan.
Over against the Father stood the Adversary,
who challenged his power and limited his sway. From the abyss came the demons which swarmed upon the
earth.
It
was
which produced disease epileptic
and
it
and
;
the
their
malign
bhnd and
power
deaf, the
insane, were under their control;
would be the function of the Messiah to
reduce them to impotence and subjugate their lord.
The Gospels themselves
tell
us,
however,
THE WORLD AND
POWERS
ITS
4I
that Jesus was not alone in the ability to master
them.
When
against
him that he
the malicious charge was brought cast out
demons by the help demons,
of Beelzebub, prince of the
whom,' he asked, they
Therefore
'
be
your
now knows
day
all
Babylonia all
may
they
;
The
judges.'
and are spread
They
round the world.
Egypt and
underlie the ancient magical books of
history
?
that these concep-
tions are thousands of years old, at the present
Then by
do your sons cast them out
shall
student, however,
'
be followed in Christian
through mediaeval Europe
;
while the
testimony of innumerable travellers pro\'es that
they
may
be traced from continent to continent
and island
to island in every phase of the lower
In
culture.
view
of
the
modern
science
of
anthropology the plea once pathetically raised on behalf of the Gospel narratives that there was a special creation of his apostles, falls
demons to the
in the age of Jesus
ground as absurd.
Into a scene thus constituted the Gospel of introduces Jesus, whose
title
Mark
Christ or Messiah has
already become a kind of proper name.^ history 1
Mark
and i.
I,
'
significance will be
The beginning
and
expounded
Its
later.
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.'
THE HISTORICAI JESUS
42
It is the centre of a
tions which
taken up
group of impassioned expecta-
had passed through many forms, had various
elements
foreign
and had been kindled
midst,
many minds by
activity in
into
into
two
that
is
tion
ages, the age that
to
come
God had come
now
is,
time
of
and the age
the judgment and the resurrec-
;
The
the Son of David and the Son of Man.
;
story of Jesus
person
is
told through this
is
enveloped in
Gospels are not so
modem above fulfil
vehement
watchwords were the division
Its
their
the announcement of
the Baptist that the kingdom of nigh.
into
it
medium
his
;
The
from end to end.
much
lives
of Jesus in the
sense, as apologies for Christianity, and,
all,
any
for the Messiah's death. of the conditions of
understand
it
they
;
are
They do not
biography as we
edifying
narratives
explanatory of the origin and claims of the Church. '
To such an
the
extent,' observes Prof. Burkitt,
Synoptic
Gospels
Jewish books,
'
are
occupied
with problems belonging originally to first-century Judaism,
that
difficult to
makes
large
parts
of
them
use as books of universal religion.'^
The Evangelists 1
it
describe the career of Jesus under
The Earliest Sources
for the Life of Jesus (19 lo), p. 27.
PRESENTED AS THE MESSIAH the preconception that he
43
the Christ, just as
is
the compilers of the Buddhist scriptures assume
Gotama was a Buddha.
that their teacher first
of
The
Buddhist books which came into the hands
Western scholars teemed with such wonders
that
was natural
it
to view
him
Marvels
as a god.
attended his birth, when the world was Ught, and the
devas
shining
full
of
the heavens
in
above waved their robes and sang their songs of
Then the blind saw and the dumb spake
praise.
the deaf heard, the lame walked, and the in the hells
The Buddha
were put out.
be tempted by the Evil One. the demonic
hundred
powers.
fires
must
also
He, too, can control
He, too, can
feed
six
disciples out of a basket of cakes pre-
woman
pared by an old herself,
;
and have enough
of the nearest village.
A
husband and
for her left to
supply the poor
disciple
on
his
way
to
hear the Master teach finds no boat at the ferry, steps boldly on to the water, feet. is
But
in the
and
it
bears
up
his
middle of the broad stream he
frightened at the waves and begins to sink,
when he makes an
act of joyful confidence in the
Buddha, the water
is
once more firm as dry
ground, and he passes on in safety to the other
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
44 side.
Buddha
In the last year of his hfe the
predicts
death after three months
his
transfigured in the presence of
the night before
and when
;
a mighty earthquake
wonders
of the
most
person round
thrown.
whom
on
disciples
the
Here
is
sympathy
of
a series
of
But
significant description.
no student now doubts the
is
he passes out of life
testifies to
nature with his decease.
two
he
;
historic reality of the
this robe of miracle
has been
would be perfectly easy to argue that
It
no human being ever lived who did ascribed to the Buddha.
all
the things
Such reasoning would
not touch the evidence derived from an immense
mass
of
teaching,
individuality, of Indian life
often
stamped with a
and congruous with many features
known from
At
other sources.
this
however, the historian finds support
point,
archaeology which Palestine
say nothing sufficient to
large
lofty
of
earlier
mention that
fails
in the
mound was opened
was a commemorative shrine a solid
dome
it
autumn
near
To
to yield.
discoveries
may of
in
be
1909 a
Peshawar.
It
of the usual type,
of brick, containing at its core a
smaU square chamber.
Ancient
tradition
the explorers to expect to find within
it
led
some
MIRACLE AND HISTORY relics of
The expectation was not
the Buddha.
On
disappointed.
45
the floor of the chamber lay
a stone casket which contained some tiny frag-
ments
An
of calcined bone.
inscription identified
them with the Buddha's remains. reason to
There was no
doubt their genuineness
;
and they
were solemnly presented by the Viceroy himself in
March,
to
1910,
a deputation
of
Burmese
Buddhists as the nearest heirs of the faith within the Indian Empire.
From
the age of the
Buddha
to the last century
the glamour of miracle shines round the long succession
India's
of
The
teachers.
Christian saints are adorned again
No
the same tissue of marvel. for its growth.
long time
The freedman
lives
of
and again with
of the
is
needed
Emperor
Augustus related that wondrous portents had heralded his master's birth.
warned
of
The Roman Senate,
coming danger to their power, resolved
that no child born that year should be reared. little later it
was affirmed that the mother
future ruler of of Apollo.
Rome had
Even during
A
of the
conceived in the temple
ovm
lifetime the
most
were ascribed to him.
A
his
exalted
attributes
German
archaeological expedition in Asia
Minor
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
46
decade of the
in the last
some remarkable of the ancient
century discovered
last
among
inscriptions
the remains
Halicarnassus and Priene,
cities
They were concerned
Apameia and Eumeneia,
partly with the introduction into Asia of the
Julian calendar, and partly with the institution
on the birthday of Augustus,
of a general holiday
The
September 23rd.
them
ferred
worthy
is
employment
the
' :
of the
word
him
designated
'
human
'
race
;
to
Saviour
the
he
the
of glad tidings
He
world.' of
{a-coTrjp)
the whole
man was
ever born
;
he has
been sent by Providence to put an end to war peace
prevails
on earth and
When
sea.
;
and such
hopes gathered round the reigning Csesar, was surprising
that
he
described him
be
should
very impersonation of Deity Philae
is
the beginning of hfe and the
is
of sorrow that
evangelia,
the birthday of the god
become the beginning
{tov Oeov) is
(cvayycXtW) through
re-
Very note-
to the year 11 or 9 B.C.
glad tidings or gospels
end
Mommsen
historian
as
'
?
regarded
An
a
inscription at
star of all Greece
has arisen as great Saviour Zeus
as
it
;
'
who
while the
echoes of Egyptian theology are heard in the
preceding language which
calls
him
'
Zeus out of
THE REALITY OF
HIS
TEACHING
47
Yet no one doubts the humanity
Father Zeus.'^
soHd reaUty of his imperial
of Augustus, or the
sway. (iv)
Where, then,
shall
we seek
for the real evidence
of the historical character of Jesus
?
There
is
in
some quarters a growing impression that the
modem
methods
of
Gospels kave, after It is quite true
cannot
tell
that
critical
all,
very
inquiry little
much remains
into
the
to be knowTi.
uncertain.
We
with any precision the year of his birth
What impulses sent him to the Jordan bank among the crowd which gathered around or death.
When
he
began to teach, how long he was occupied
in
John the Baptist, Gahlee,
why
are hidden
from
us.
he retired into Phcenicia, whether
he ever visited Jerusalem in his public ministry prior to the passover at
and many other
But these
which he suffered
details
difficulties
—these
must remain obscure.
do not
affect the claim of
the large mass of teaching which the First Three
Gospels contain to proceed from a real person. It is doubtless the case that various 1
Wendland,
1904, p. 343.
in Preuschen's Zeitschr. fiir
elements have
N.T. Wissenschaft,
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
48
been absorbed into the Evangelic traditions as
it is
freely
mission from to
just
;
admitted that the process of trans-
memory and from mouth translation from the Aramean
memory
mouth, and
of
to
vernacular into Greek, renders us unable to affirm
we have any
that
of the great sayings of Jesus
The supporters
precisely as he uttered them.
the theory of a
no attempt to show how
its
of
make
Christ-myth,' however,
'
various items were
precipitated on a single personality
why
;
that
personality was attached to a place that never existed yet was afterwards located on the
by what means
map
was provided with a group
it
;
of
family relations and conducted from Capernaum
judgment
to Pontius Pilate's
whose inspiration
it
hall
;
and under
was endowed with a tongue
whose words subsequent generations might
the
the the
Wisdom prior Wisdom '
'
find
who approaches
guidance and support. The reader of Jesus the son of
in
Joseph through
of Jesus the son of Sirach,' or
Sayings of the Fathers
'
who both
pre-
ceded and followed him, will hardly dismiss the Gospel teachings as
Talmudist that the
Fiebig
Talmud
'
Jewish commonplaces,'
will
tell
him,
for
The
example,
contains no parables of the
REALITY OF HIS TEACHING
kingdom such
49
as those ascribed to Jesus
and
;
Mr. Montefiore will invite him to recognize that '
even
if
you could
find separate close parallels for
nine hundred and seventy out
say, the
of,
verses in the Gospel in which Jesus
and even Httle
if
book
is
the speaker,
you put them together and made a nice of them,
you would not have produced
a substitute of equal religious value. the aroma, the
spirit,
Or, rather,
fled.
thousand
the genius, would
you could not
your elegant collection
Here seems to
me
The
of
to
unity,
all
have
infuse them into
fragments and
tit-bits.'^
the ultimate guarantee
lie
for the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth.
Readers of Renan's Vie de Jesus
how
may remember
during his preliminary studies in the Syria
of to-day the scenery
and
life of
the people shaped
themselves in his mind into a kind of It is impossible in
this impression.
fifth gospel.
a few sentences to reproduce
There
is
no philosophy
in Jesus'
teaching which sums up a past development or
He is not a theologian a creed, or a man of science who inphysical world. He belongs to the
opens new lines of thought*
who
creates
terprets the
order of prophets, that unique product of Israel's 1
The Synoptic Gospels,
vol.
i..
Introduction, p. cv.
D
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
50 spiritual life
and the novelty
;
of his speech lies
in the note of authority which rests not upon
upon the freshness
tradition but
experience
of
Here lay the ultimate sovereignty
within.
the heart
this
;
was the
final court
of
of
appeal.
'\Vhy,' he cried, 'judge ye not even of yourselves
what
is
right
'
?
The time was The death
of
full of
tyranny and tribulation.
Herod, the subsequent deposition
of his son
Archelaus in Judea, and the encroach-
ments
Rome, produced unrest and
of
which the heavy burdens contrasts between tensified.
of
taxation and the
wealth and poverty only in-
In the midst of extravagance on the
one hand and want on the other were of
men and women who
tion
of
agitation,
Israel.'
They
'
little
groups
waited for the consola-
fed
hopes on the
their
language of ancient prophecy or later apocalyptic
and scanned the heavens change.
for
signs
Suddenly from the banks
a voice rings through the land,
'
of
of the
;
coming Jordan
Repent, for the
Crowds God has drawn nigh gather round the austere figure who wears the
kingdom
of
'
!
prophet's mantle and uses the prophet's speech,
and go down into the
river to receive at his
hand
1;
HIS
EARLY YEARS
5
the baptism of repentance unto forgiveness of sins.
Among
the Baptist's hearers
from Nazareth
He
is
in GaHlee,
some
a young
is
man
thirty years old.
the son of a carpenter or builder, the eldest
and several
of a large family, with four brothers sisters.
He
has received the usual education of
a Jewish boy. village
school,
At
his mother's knee, or in the
he has early learned the great
confession of Jewish piety,
Lord thy God, the Lord
'
is one.'
service in the S5magogue,
O
Hear,
Israel, the
He knows
the
and can stand up and
read a lesson in the Sabbath worship, or can
and preach when prayers are law and precedents
of history
prophecy are laid up ready
over.
and
Maxims
sit
of
principles of
for instant use in a
memory he can supersede Moses out of his own writings and he is apparently imbued with eschatologic lore. He comes out of
well-stored
;
;
an upland
village,
but the great caravans of
merchandise between Egypt and Syria have passed to and fro over the Galilean provincial in dialect, he
is
hills
;
he
may
be
not so in thought
his outlook
reaches north and south and east
and west
he glances over court and cottage,
;
over the professors of piety and the disreputable
THE HISTORICAI- JESUS
52
and
forlorn
and
too,
he,
among
he sees cruelty and lust
;
princes, and hypocrisy
among
teachers of religion
moved by
is
coming wrath,' and
joins
the vision
the great
in
;
'
the
act
of
of
penitence in Jordan's stream.
New rise
hopes, fresh ideas,
plans,
expectations,
with swift movement in his mind, and he must
needs go apart and wrestle with them.
He
seeks
in solitude the opportunity to shape his course,
and the Church afterwards the Messiah's
trials.
hold him long.
bank to
fills it
Does he return to the Jordan
find the
prophet a prisoner and
crowds dispersed, or did he
words
teacher's burning
The
brief tale of
with pictures of
But the wilderness cannot
Mark
?
listen again to his
We
leaves an
do not know.
unnamed
between Jesus' baptism and John's can only infer that
ment which
it
with
arrest,
sent Jesus back to Galilee.
carries his
its little
interval
and we
was the Baptist's imprison-
abandons the comparative home, and
There he
isolation of his obscure
message to the busy lake
towns and thriving
industries.
are the occupations reflected in his words.
do the fishermen
by the
lake side
;
the
Many Still
mend
their nets in their boats
still
do they launch out into
REALITY OF HIS TEACHING the deep for a cast of the
still
;
water dragging
contents, flinging the
it
53
do they come up out
to shore,
bad away.
and
sort the
Along the plain
and on the gentle slopes the sower passes scattering the grain
gather
or
;
the
declivities
when
the harvest
more splendid than
them the pastures
bundles
into
tares
behind are
gemmed
all
is
ripe the reapers for
Solomon's array.
The
Above
stretch over the hills where the
shepherd seeks the wandering sheep. sails
fuel.
with red anemones
The raven
out to-day as of old from his nest
among
the crags, and floats in the air poised high above
the lake below.
Look
mountain wall you
are quickly ill-built
mouth foam the
may
see the
;
is
filled
with rushing waters, and the
undermined
boatmen
dawn come up
the torrent-beds in the ravines
house upon the sandy
as the
and behind the
The storm gathers and breaks
red and lowring.
upon the heights
to the east,
;
floor of the valley's
the lake
is
churned into
wind rushes down the gorges, and strain
and labour
the peasant's house and you
at the oar.
may
see the
Enter
mother
kneading the bread for the family meal, patching the clothes of husband or child, or sweeping the floor for a lost coin.
Pass to the chandler's shop,
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
54
and learn how
to give
good measure, pressed down,
At the wine-
shaken together and running over. seller's
you may
find out
why new wine
not be put into old skins.
you how dry
;
The
builder will
of a splinter in the eye
measures and
his
fits
you
lengthen
by a
the bazaars,
cubit.
heaped
in profusion
are for court-robes
guarded,
games
;
among
the
will
realize
stature
carpet and tapestry
the precious pearl, jealously
Or watch the
of the children in the market-square, the
Yonder labourers
mimic wedding and the funeral. huddled
in the
shade through the noonday heat,
are waiting for a job calls
the
the rich stuffs
a ransom for a king.
is
know
your own
why you cannot Visit
will
or as the joiner
;
planks,
show
wood from
to distinguish the green
where the chips are flying you
meaning
should
them time
daylight.
pedantry
after time
schools.
no formal
chair.
It
in the
open it
the owner of the vineyard the last hour of
till
Here are no maxims of the
discussion,
through
:
is
;
This
lecture
of moralists, is
no
no academic
from the teacher's
speech coined in the sunlight, minted air.
listen,
The breath
of
freedom plays
and you can hear the echoes of
the waves lapping on the beach, and the winds
PERSONALITY IN HIS TEACHING blowing on the *
A
hills.
55
psalmist might have said
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
A
land.'
enjoined
rabbi or a Chinese sage might have '
Do
not to others what you would not
that they should do to you.'
A
Greek moralist
might teach that the wise man was a son
A
Hindu
evil
might lay down the overcoming of
seer
by good
God.
of
as the prime rule of
You may
life.
gather gems from out the centuries as you plod slowly through the literatures of antiquity
where
in so brief a
compass
will
you
find so
;
but
much
which the common heart has since recognized as
Here
is
concentrated into a few pages
a wisdom which
is
only found elsewhere scattered
highest
through source
?
?
climes It is
and generations. no scrap-heap
of
What
its
is
commonplaces,
the product of a general insight where everybody is
wiser than
great
anybody
creative
;
it
personality
bears the impress of a
who can make
the
homeliest symbols, the simplest imaginative forms, instinct with the spirit of
And
the
action
life.
corresponds.
There
originality of conduct as well as of speech.
is
an
Jesus
does what neither Jew nor Greek had done before.
He
goes to dine with a tax-gatherer
;
he
sits
at
;
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
56
table with the social outcast
he consorts with
;
men and women
kinds of undesirable types of
all
of low occupation or of none.
tion
He
reality.
is
it
;
redeeming activity
This
no inven-
is
opens new paths of
he seeks out the wanderer
;
We
and binds up the bruised.
do not hear
of
Attis that he went about doing good, or of Adonis
that he
came
novelty, not a mythological
very himian
This
to save the lost.
issues,
datum
ordinaiy^ food, like the rest,
Was
the
has
of explain-
by the theory that she His own half-
the reputation which he earned.
sum up
it
Jesus was well aware of
was a degraded deity.
hmnorous comments
human
a
and
:
which do not admit
ing a motlier's anxieties
John,
is
as he compares himself with
contrast
and you
are
*
:
mad
;
from
Abstain eat
and drink
you are a glutton and a drunkard.'
he prepared for
tlie
bitterest
mother and brothers, alarmed
blow for
of
all,
his
that
sanity,
should seek to lay hold on him, to protect him agauist for
himself
?
The breach was
whom was it harder,
— to hear
same
is
The
'
for
him
inevitable
to say, or for
them
WTiosoever shall do the will of God, the
my brother,
and
sister,
and mother
'
?
traditions of Jesus, then, present us with
PERMANENT ELEMENTS They
principles, not laws.
IN HIS TEACHING
are the vehicle of an
immense moral impulse, not Here
of a
instead of system
is spirit
an unworldly
code of a
;
riilf;s.
summons
not a programme of duty
life,
57
to
a
;
challenge to an endeavour, rather than a pattern
The contrasts between the
of conduct.
and the new are always conceived
on universal
rests
man and
time-frame the
title of
is
Be
shattered.
Messiah
;
be
it
it
worth when
its
that he accepted
Man
not arrive
of the age did
its
that he announced the
speedy coming of the Son of
end
concerned with
relations,
God, does not lose
view of the
in
But the teaching
great event so near at hand.
which
old order
us from worshipping him as
;
be
it
that the
—this may prevent
God
'
out of God,'
it
does not impair the elements in his thought and
word, his character and work, which experience confirms.
Jesus
?
'
shippers
'
Why
must
of
Mithra
Europe, and plant
But Mithraisra was
you
possible.
Gospels in
its
carry it
have
a
their
o-vstl
all
Tyne
?
no imitatio Mithrae
The Church conquered
and blood which
through
faith
even on our
failed because
hand.
personal
Did not the wor-
asks Prof. Drews.
\sith
the
There was a figure of flesh could imderstand and revere.
THE HISTORICAL JESUS
58
The victory
Empire was won tion
when
implicitly
Roman
the
the
first collec-
The
Jesus' words was written down.
of
may
essence of the Gospel
which seemed most age.
over
Christianity
of
The
visions
not
But the
and
significant to Jesus of
impending
passed away, and the world round.
for us in that
lie
relation of
still
his
have
change
annual
spins its
God and man which
Jesus set at the heart of his expectation of the
kingdom
sifted out its transient elements its
perspective,
brought then,
its
Christendom
divine
has changed
it
hidden
remains
dissoluble
Time has
our possession for ever.
is
Deep
?
emphasis, and
its
to
experience
the
in
union
What,
light.
planted that sense
is
which
treasures
has enlarged
it
;
of
the
of in-
between our nature and the
enabled
Jesus
summon
to
the
sinner to the highest possible achievement, sure
This
of a response to his call.
is
what a modern
interpreter, the late Master of Balliol, called his '
idealism.'
and the
For the Gospel means that the
selfish
the faint-hearted and the
feeble-
dissolute,
willed, the reckless, the despairing, the defiant,
the cruel, providence,
are
all
alike
the
have a share
in
children his
of
God's
purpose,
and
— HIS are
bidden
'
'
IDEALISM
by Jesus
—with
59
a
and
courage
a
confidence which no lapse of years can shake
to be perfect as the Father which
And
perfect.
of
him
will
go away go too
?
;
'
those
stand by his
and they
if
eternal
shall life.'
he
side,
?
in
heaven
whoever
calls across the
and
we go
is
is
learned this faith
answer as of
will
a wider outlook
whom
who have
ages
old,
different
Thou hast
else '
may
Will ye
though with
emphasis,
'
To
the words of
II
JESUS
AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
About the year 28
or 29 a.d. a
rumour
flew
through Judea that a prophet, in the prime of early
manhood, had appeared
in the wilderness,
announcing that the kingdom of God had come nigh.
Crowds from the capital as well as from
the country assembled on the
and received the baptism
A
forgiveness of sins.
young man
of
bank of
of the Jordan,
repentance unto
few months later another
about the same age proclaims the
same message beside the Lake of Galilee, and carries it
from synagogue to synagogue through town and
village
months
among later,
the northern
hills.
Again a few
and he commits the same word to
twelve followers, sending them out two and two,
with instructions to of
God has come
'
Preach, saying. The kingdom
nigh.'
1
THE KINGDOM AND
What
did this
mean
6
problems of
difficult
The language ascribed
Gospel study.
It
INTERPRETATION
The question takes us
?
most
into the heart of the
in the First
ITS
Three Gospels
is
to Jesus
not always consistent.
may have
depends on traditions which
been
already modified through unconscious influences of
memory and hope
before they were recorded
Moreover, our Evangelists present us
in writing.
with the speech of Jesus transferred from his native
and
vernacular into Greek, translation
new shades
of
in
the
process
of
meaning may have been There are differences in
imparted to his words.
The sayings
the point of view of his reporters.
of
the Teacher about the future and the end of the
age emerge out of a in the early
circle of fully
formed
beliefs
Church at a period when they had had
time to take up fresh items of popular expectation,
and even to be associated with literary
expression.
influences
is
To
disentangle
forms of all
these
a problem of extraordinary intricacy.
Fresh light has been thrown on partly by more investigation,
delicate
partly
series of apocalyptic
interval
later
it
methods
in recent years, of
by the study
documentary of the long
works which illuminate the
between the books
of
Daniel and of
;
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
62
Revelation, and partly
by the endeavour
to trace
the origins of their mysterious symbols in the older faiths of Persia
and
of
Babylon.
(i)
The term
'
kingdom
is
'
in
one
an
respect
inadequate rendering of the ancient name. true
meaning
kingship or rule.
is
The
Its
political
analogy which presented the divine government
human sovereignty, was employed all the way from India to Greece. Among the ancient Vedic hymns some of the after
the
fashion
of
noblest gather round the lordly figure of king
Varuna.
His messengers
his ordinances are fixed of
men's eyes
fly
through the world
he knows the
;
;
he numbers the winkings
;
the
flight of birds,
paths of ships upon the ocean, the course of the far-travelling
wind
;
together in secret, he there
is
aware
Among
as third.
Hellas Zeus
and where two men is
the
of
it,
hills
plot
being present
and vales
of
king of gods and men, and Pindar
sang of his house in the highest, warning the
wrong-doer that
'
if
a
man
thinketh that in doing
aught he shall be hidden from God, he erreth '
for all the sins sinned in this
'
realm of Zeus One
TYPES OF HEAVENLY RULE
Among
judgeth under earth.'
Egyptian
in the
Empire during the
was that
of Isis.
that he might
'
' ;
'
'
called
;
changed,' or
'
saved
'
she, too,
was
to the disciple, so that he
But
transfigured.'^
a
of
the believer,
'
she, too,
danger, ignorance, and sin life
was sovereign
She, too,
enter in
century of our era,
first
kingdom,' into which she
'
the most popular
which had made their way
of the
cults
63
'
from
gave new
born again,'
'
it
was
in the
ancient Persian theology, in the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zarathustra, that this conception re-
ceived
most conspicuous development.
its
the six 'Holy Immortals'
Mazda,
'
who
Among
stood around Ahura
the Lord omniscient,'
was the angel
of
khshathra or sovereignty, the kingdom or rule of the divine will.
'
We praise the good kingdom
ran the ancient hjnnn. the service of
ledgment
Even
in those early
human need was the God
of the kingship of
;
prayer of the believer declared that
kingdom poor.'
Afiro 1
to
But
'
days
best acknowfor the daily '
he gives the
Ahura who bestows succour on the this
sovereignty
Mainjm (Ahriman), the
was opposed by evil spirit
with his
See Reitzenstein, Die Hellenistischen Mysterien-Religion,
1910, p. 26.
;
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
64
demon powers ward and
and prophetic hope looked
;
when
to a time
the
'
for-
the kingdom should come,
forwards-making
{frasho-kereti),
'
the
world's advance to the victory of good, should be
The
accomplished.
known.
well tions
and
outlines of this
Later texts might teU of tribula-
calamities, of signs in the heavens, of
earthquake and storm on earth. old
scheme are
But even the
Avesta announces the advent of a Saviour
(Saoshyant)
who
should be the helper or agent in
The
the great consummation.
judged in the
after death,
heaven
of
souls that
and had passed the
had been interval
good thoughts, good words, good
deeds, or the upper
home
song round Ahura's
of
and the condemned who had been con-
throne,
signed to the hell of evil thoughts, words, deeds,
would resume would take
their bodies,
place.
A
and the resurrection
general judgment would
once more sever the wicked from the just, but only for three
the
hills
days of pain.
would melt, and the
To the
overspread the earth.
be
like
a bath of milk
purifying flame. of
good
For the mountains and
would
;
fiery
stream would
righteous
it
would
the guilty would find
it
a
With a mighty onset the powers overwhelm
their
antagonists
THE PERSIAN HOPE
65
Ahura himself would appear upon the scene great Serpent would be burned in
;
;
the
the hiding-place
which Ahriman would take refuge would be
and he too would
flung into the molten stream,
perish
;
then hell should be brought back for the
enlargement of the world, and the universe should
be immortal for ever and ever.
The main
features of this picture of the future
were already familiar to the Greeks who followed Alexander the Great into the East.
Mesopotamia might have become
in
Israelites
with
acquainted
The deported
it
an
at
earlier
date,
after
Cyrus had swept away the empire of Babylon.
The Hebrew a doctrine
seers
of
the
had long
since
formulated
divine sovereignty.
Isaiah,
giving external shape to the profound experi-
ence
which had summoned him forth to the
prophet's task, believed that he had
King, rule
Yahweh as
seen the
Psalmists sang of his
of hosts.'
everlasting.
'
embraced the
It
visible
world, the angel-powers to which were delegated
the control
of
the
stars,
array across the sky, as of nature lastly the
—wind,
rain,
marching in nightly
weU
as other agencies
dew, and the like
motley company of the nations
—and
of the
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
66
earth and their guardians in the realms above.
The
chief function of the
human
king was to give
judgment, and popular expectation in Israel as early as the eighth century b.c.
to look forward to
'
had already begun
Yahweh's
victory over national enemies,
day,'
a day of
when Yahweh's
people should be established in prosperity. the daring message of
Amos
It
was
that this would be
instead a day of doom, darkness and not light.
In varying tones the warning First
people.
it is
Yahweh's anger.
Assyria
Then
is
repeated to a guilty
who
it is
be the rod of
will
from Babylon that
the chastisement will come, and Jeremiah actually hails
Nebuchadrezzar as the servant
will.
Wider
is
of
Yahweh's
the outlook of a later day, as the
prophets predict the dissolution of the world, and
announce the creation earth.
of
new heavens and a new
The contact with Persian thought would
Dim
hints that the dead
may Uve, and the earth shall
cast forth the shades,
seem to have begun.
imply that the stimulus at work.
But
it is
not
of foreign suggestion is till
the age of Antiochus
Epiphanes that the author of the (about
165
awakening,
B.C.) '
some
definitely
to
Book
of Daniel
promises the great
everlasting
life,
some
to
THE WORLD-JUDGMENT shame and
67
everlasting abhorrence.'
It is the first
formal separation between the destinies of the
and the guilty apostates.
suffering righteous
And
here, too, for the first time the doctrine of the
kingdom
is
closely
combined with that
world- judgment {Dan.
The
vii.).
seer stands looking over the
ocean of human
life
confused.
Up from
come four huge
tumultuous
where the four winds
war with the great
of a vast
sea.
All
of
heaven
dim, undefined,
is
the sea, one after the other,
beasts.
They
are the symbols of
four empires, in which the writer arranges his
scheme
Median, Persian,
of history, Babylonian,
Greek.
Suddenly the scene changes.
A
court
prepared for the great
Unnamed
is
assize.
solemn
ministering agents erect thrones for the judge
and the but
is
assisting powers.
The
locality
presumably the earth.
venerable man, of his vesture
radiant purity.
his hair
is
The whiteness
the symbol of his
Myriads of beings
around him as the agents
obscure,
God, figured as a
sits in the midst.
and
is
fill
the ranks
of his decrees.
The
records of men's doings are brought, and the books are opened.
had
The blasphemies
so proudly called
of Antiochus,
himself
'
God
who
manifest,'
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
68
draw down the
first
doom on him.
beasts are judged in turn
(it
their empire passes,
;
And
but their peoples survive.
The other
then, descending
would seem) on clouds from the sky, a new
figure
escorted
is
by an
him near to the Ancient form
;
he wears a
lion, bear,
And
to
is
Days.
of
as
is
Uke unto a son
'
bring
no brute
of man.'
given a kingdom which shall not
pass away, but shall withstand
and
This
who
hmnan shape, distinguished from
and leopard,
him
angel-retinue,
all
shocks of time
last for ever.
Who
is
intended by this mysterious figure
?
The author himself seems to append an explanation Like the vanished beasts,
(ver. 27).
this, too, is
an
earthly sovereignty, that of the people of the saints of the
Most High, exalted to power which
dominions must obey. in the
Had
His higher dignity
human, contrasted with the
Israel, then,
no personal head
a kingdom without a king of any Davidic prince
;
There
?
the
'
is
all
seen
bestial, form.
Was
?
is
there
no mention
Branch
'
of older
prophecy has disappeared.
Recent prophecy had
hoped
theophany,^ without
for
a great
di\'ine
mentioning any national dehverer who should 1
Joel
iii.
;
Zech. xiv.
;
Is. xxiv.-xxvii.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ISRAEL
69
lead Israel to victorious war, and place
universal throne.
The Son
God
his
up
will lift
hand against the strange
and crush the heads
nations,
on a
it
prays that
of Sirach^
of the hostile rulers
;
but his hopes turn to Elijah as the agent of the restoration of the scattered tribes.^
had already been caught up he was
to
return,
from above
The
?
empires,
cessive
dream {Dan.
ii),
;
if
and assume the leadership
must he not descend
of Israel,
Elijah
into heaven
in a cloud-chariot
parallel vision
however, in
four suc-
of
Nebuchadrezzar's
closes with the enduring king-
dom set up by God (ver. 44) without any human intervention. In the vague pictures of and
apocalyptic literature, vast grandiose,
we must not
analogies,
and
its
insist that
if
much
stress
and
upon
Persia or Syria
had
dynastic rulers, triumphant Israel also must
have its
lay too
indefinite
its
royal house.
That view certainly held
ground in some schools of thought, and the
noble description of the Davidic prince in the
Psalms of Solomon^ gives elevated expression to ^
Ecclus. xxxvi. 3
ff
2xlviii. 10 cp. 3
Ps. xvii.
;
about i8o
Mai.
iv.
b.c,
5-6.
Perhaps between 50 and 40
B.C.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
70
form
this
But
of the great hope.
it
does not
explain the appearance of Daniel's solemn figure
from the sky. Later
Apocalyptists
identifying
him with a
the Books of Enoch, (xxxvii.-lxxi.) the
Son
And
there
I
known of
in
In one of
as the Similitudes
Man
is
very definitely
(xlvi.).
saw One who had a head
like wool,
hesitation
specific person.
presented in this character
was white
no
had
of days,
and
his
head
and with him was another being whose
countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face
And I who went with me and showed me all the hidden things concerning that Son of Man, who he was and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days ? And he answered and said unto me This is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, with whom dwelleth righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden,
was
full of
graciousness, like one of the holy angels
asked the angel
'
because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, and his lot before
the Lord of Spirits hath surpassed
uprightness for ever.
And
this
Son
of
everything in
Man whom thou
hast
seen will arouse the kings and the mighty ones from their
couches and the strong from their thrones, and will loosen the reins of the strong and grind to powder the teeth of the sinners.
And he
will
put down the kings from their thrones
and kingdoms because they do not extol and
praise him, nor
thankfully acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed
upon them.'i 1
Translation of Dr. Charles.
'
SON OF MAN
THE
He or
'
is
7I
subsequently described as the
Chosen
'
he
;
the
is
'
Anointed
'
'
who
Elect will
be
the light of the Gentiles, and the hope of those
who
Ere the sun and stars
are troubled of heart.
were created his name was named before the Lord so that he
of Spirits,
before the world to
:
of Spirits seats
throne of his glory, and
him and
into being
and judgment will be committed
him when the Lord
before
was brought
him on the
all evil shall
He
depart.^
pass
away
not here as in
is
Daniel a symbol of the sovereignty of Israel is its
actual administrator
;
he
;
he
identified with
is
a person and designated as the Messiah. Later expectation naturally followed this
The
Ezra
seer of 4
(xiii.
2)^
line.
combines the details
which Daniel separates. He, too, stands by the sea.
A wind arises and the waters are lashed into waves, and from the midst
arises as it
were the likeness
man who flies with the clouds of heaven. It he whom the Most High hath kept to deliver
of a is
them that
are
the top of for
their
upon the earth
he
will
stand on
Mount Zion and rebuke the nations wickedness
Saviour and Judge. 1 xlviii.
;
2-4
;
Ixii.
;
he
thus
will
be
both
StiU later the teachers of the 2
;
Ixix. 22.
^
After 70 a.d.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
72
Synagogue held out the hope
that,
if
were
Israel
worthy, the Messiah would appear with the clouds of heaven
but
;
afflicted, riding
if
would come lowly and
not, he
upon an
ass
;
and the
in the Davidic genealogy in i Chron.
was
iii.
last
name
24, Anani,
and con-
identified as a title of the Messiah,
nected fancifully with the word anan
'
cloud.'
In this stream of testimony the Gospel language takes of the
its place,
Son
of
when Jesus announces
Man
the coming
Father with
in the glory of the
the holy angels, and pictures the nations gathered
together for judgment before his throne.^ 1
Scholars have of late been busy with conjectures con-
cerning the antecedents of the Daniel figure. the angel-patron of Israel,
N. P. Schmidt.
Or was
xii.
it
i
so Dr.
?
a being
Was
it
Michael,
Cheyne and
Prof.
like the angel of Peniel,
Gen. xxxii. 30, 31, without a name, yet a personal mediator
between God
sind the world,
who was
at the
same time the
transcendent and primeval type of humanity, destined to be realized In
the kingdom of the
saints
?
The doctrine
of
heavenly counterparts belonged to different forms of oriental thought, and had established
itself,
as the language of St. Paul
shows, in Jewish theology before the days of Jesus.
The Rabbis
had much to say about the
Man, which
glories of the First
by the Fall. It is quite possible that this celestial being had become an apocalyptic figure, as easily recognizable The in symbol as the eagle of Rome or the lion of England. were
lost
precise original significance
it
may
be beyond our power to
CONTEMPORARY BELIEF
73
(ii)
Around
this doctrine of
judgment other items
They were never
of expectation slowly gathered.
welded into complete coherence, any more than the Messianic type was uniform and consistent.
But
contemporary
certain distinctive features of
A
thought reappear in the preaching of Jesus. time-scheme has been formulated, and the
now is
that
We hear of of
'
will pass into
'
the judgment
'
'
'
the age that
'^ ;
'
recover.
' ;
of
'
It belongs to
is
show that
The problem
'
the Man.'
Gunkel,
Gressmann,
to the
same group
'
considerations which
in the Galilean vernacular the
mean
the Days,'
'
Modem Grill,
8,
cf.
'
Son
is
appear to
Man would
of
'
students of Apocalyptic Volz,
Bousset,
refer
'
the
of ideas as the well-known terms
the Tribulation,'
Matt. xxiv.
Man.
of
a tradition of which only faint traces
complicated by linguistic
really
Son
cast into this frame in the
remain, capable of various interpretations.
1
';
the beginning
of the parousia^ of the
His whole teaching
'
to come.'
the kingdom prepared for the righteous from
of travail
Man
age
and the resurrection
the foundation of the world
like
is
'
'
the End,'
the so-called
'
'
the Second Death.
birth-pains
'
of the
new
order. *
and
For the application of princes,
this
term to the
and even of the
Deissmann, Light from
'
advent
'
of kings
Saviour-god Asklepios, see
the East, p. 372fi.
;
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
74
The Hebrew view
First Three Gospels.
world was essentially dramatic.
government powers
of persons
;
good and
of
it
evil
of the
was under the
It
was the scene
in
which
Unlike the
clashed.
Greek conceptions of a ruling Mind, expressing itself
through a
scientific
order,
Hebrew
piety
delighted to celebrate the praises of a supreme Will.
'
He
Psalmists
The idea
spake and '
;
of
it
was
he commanded and
law
in nature
abundantly proves.
But
of history,
passionate nationalism,
ment
it
sang the
stood
fast.'
was certainly not wanting
to the thinkers of Israel, as the
pretation
done,'
their
Wisdom
literature
fundamental
inter-
under the influence of a
demanded the accomplish-
of a purpose, the fulfilment of a promise.
First, the seed of
at a later stage
it
Abraham must mherit
must become the teacher
nations, the revealer of
Whatever
forces
the land
God
opposed
it
;
of the
to the whole world.
must be overcome
the victory of good was assured
;
the vicissi-
tudes of conquest and defeat might endure for a while, but there
was an inner meaning within
them which must be
realized
;
at
any moment
the mystery of the divine intent might break
through, and the goal to which Israel had been
THE NEW ORDER advancing would be reached. consummation,'
of
the
'
75
This was the
consummation
*
time the
of
So great an event would shatter the existing
age.'^
order.
It
would involve the entry
into the world of earth
reshaped
and sky, which would be
become the scene
to
of fresh forces
of
divine
The approach
presence, the sphere of God's rule. of the
the
kingdom, accordingly, denoted the speedy
manifestation of powers hitherto held in reserve.
The warning cry
of the Baptist,
'
It is at hand,'
so long awaited would be
announced that the
crisis
delayed no more.
In vivid figures he described
The axe
the judgment as in actual process. the
woodman was
trees
,;
of
laid already at the root of the
the gigantic harvester would soon march
through the earth, winnowing fan in hand, ready
bum
up the
this appeal Jesus responds.
Alone,
gamer the wheat and
to
chaff in
quenchless flame.
To
it
would
must carry
seem,
among
forth
the same message, ^ but with a different
1
the Baptist's hearers, he
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Zeb.
Matt.
xiii.
39-40, 49, xxiv.
2 It appears,
3,
ix.
9
;
Benj.
xi. 3
;
xxviii. 20.
however, both from the picture of the Baptist's
activity in the Fourth Gospel,
and from the curious episode
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
76
emphasis on
its
contents.
New
interpretations,
He
fresh possibiUties, rise in his mind.
work the
for the scene of his
towns
no
in the region of his
unusual
character,
chooses
busiest group
He assumes
own home. however
of
endeared
by
He wears no prophet's mantle, eats no ascetic's food. He utters no threats of national doom. He has learned to live in fellow-
national tradition.
who is men and women to him
ship with the Father
in
bring
is
to utter warnings of terror of hell.
heaven
;
and to
more urgent than
and paint prospects
So he passes from the Teacher's seat in
the synagogue to stand
by the
sick bed.
He
has
an immense sympathy with the poor, the forsaken, the disreputable, the social outcast. afraid
to
He
is
not
with the lax in ceremonial
consort
who were
observances, those
technically sinners
because they did not keep the sabbath, or distinguish the clean from the unclean.
could find the selves
;
it
way
kingdom
was the degraded, engaged
tions that defiled, in Acts xix.
into the
The righteous
1-7,
—
the wastrel,
Synoptic authorities.
them-
in occupa-
condemned by
movement which he inaugurated we might have imagined from our
that the
spread more widely than
for
;
THE PREACHING OF JESUS conventional piety
Soon
would
Abraham,
—whom he had come to invite.
the
banquet
great
to attend the feast
?
given up is
short
:
A
note of urgency runs
Much of who have
so
is
ere
much
it is
Samaritan alone
;
The atmosphere
is
to be done
too late
' ;
his lan-
already
The time
home-ties to follow him.
there
must be won
their seats
who would be ready
addressed to those all
spread
;
through the speaker's words. is
be
would take
Isaac, Jacob,
and summon the guests
guage
"]"]
the nation
;
Gentile and
let
seek out Israel's lost sheep.'
charged with an intensity of
expectation, reflected in the rapidity of Mark's narrative, which
moves from incident
to incident
in breathless speed, as he links one to another
by
'
immediately.'
It
reaches
its
climax in the
announcement attributed to Jesus {Matt. Twelve about
in his directions to the
missionary expedition,
over the
cities
'
You
x. 23)
their first
not have gone
will
of Israel before the son of
Man
arrives.'
Did Jesus, then, as Albert argued,^
Schweitzer
suppose that while the
has
Twelve were
absent on their preaching tour, he would himself 1
The Quest
of the Historical Jesus, p. 3S7fE,
JESUS
78
AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
be transformed into this mysterious being he expect the end so soon, and
Did
?
so confidently,
that he could assure his disciples of his appearance
from the sky on clouds
of glory before they re-
turned from their several
fields of toil
involves so
many
That view
?
incongruities that only a robust
faith in the Evangelist's accuracy can sustain If
it.
Jesus had already disclosed himself in that
character to his immediate followers,
how
is
it
that his instructions to preach the near arrival of the
kingdom contain no hint
function
?
Why
was he
silent
share in the coming change
?
of this
about his own
And why
also
be
?
common rumour
at a
he enquire not
later stage in his ministry does
only what
august
said about him, but
what they themselves imagined him
The question
meaning as the
if
to
at Caesarea Philippi has
no
he has already announced his advent
Man from
heaven.
The course
of events
did not correspond with this expectation.
shock of personal disappointment
is
The
assumed to
have driven him to the desperate venture
of
going to Jerusalem and courting death, in order to constrain the Father to send
the sky to judge the world*
him back out
But what
of
of the dis-
THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE appointment
of the
Twelve
?
79
Would they have
who thus mistook the No doubt the story of Second
continued to trust a leader
purposes of
Advent
God
?
prophecy
instances
faith
of
without
not
is
that
significant
triumphed
over
frus-
when one date passed and
trated prediction, and,
nothing happened, only asked confidently for the
next to be fixed.
But
hard to believe that
it is
even the singular attraction which Jesus exercised over those most closely associated with him could
have suffered no wound from so great a
Does
it
failure.
not seem more probable that among the
mixed elements
of the
reflects the eager
whole discourse
hope
this saying
and
of a later day,
really
belongs to counsels and warnings given to the early missionaries
who went
in their Master's
name
But though
forth from Jerusalem
?
cannot with
this particular saying
any certainty be ascribed to Jesus» its
present context, there remain
which entirely confirm the
belief that
at least in
many
others
he looked for
the arrival of the kingdom in the immediate future.
The
disciple
must watch with girded
burning lamp, for the Son of
hour imforeseen {Luke
xii.
Man
35-40
;
will
loins
come
and
at an
Matt. xxiv. 44).
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
8p
So near is the great event that at
whom
the apostles, to
he
already
has
his last
meal with
(according to Mali. xix. 28)
promised
twelve
thrones
for
judging the twelve tribes of Israel, he makes a
rendezvous with them to drink new wine together in the
kingdom where they
companions at
shall
be the honoured
The national element
his table. ^
here unexpectedly breaks through.
It is of rare
The pictures which
occurrence in his teaching.
Jewish hope delighted to hang
chambers of
in its
The overthrow
imagery had no charm for him.
of foreign tyrannies, nations submissive beneath Israel's rule, tributes
and
gifts of kings,
Jerusalem
exalted in splendour, the land miraculously
mothers giving birth reigning in Palestine
to the
kingdom
of
without
—such
pain,
God and
vi. 33).
the saints
details did not belong
his righteousness^
which he proclaimed as the objects quest {Matt.
fertile,
Nevertheless
of
its
an untiring scene would
be on earth, though an earth restored to paradisal innocence
;
it
would involve an immense trans-
formation of the existing order '^
Matt. xxvi. 29;
2
The
Luke
xxii.
righteousness required
acquittal in the
;
the suffering poor
18-30.
by God
as
a condition of
judgment and entry into the kingdom.
ETHICAL DEMANDS
ITS
should receive in pain
;
and the
the compensation for their
it
rich,
8l
the
full,
the laughing, would
find their lot reversed.
For the kingdom from God.
of
God would take its
character
Inasmuch as he was a righteous God,
make
the lord of purity and peace, his rule would similar
demands on those who came beneath
sway.
The physical conditions
of the
new
The humanity
hardly come into view.
future will need marriage no
more
of the
bridal
the earthly
;
and the
throughout that the kingdom
life
of the
But
bodies will be changed into angelic glory. the figures
his
imply
feast
will
have some
collective character,
and whatever be
and conditions,
inhabitants, engaged in ful-
filling
its
the will of God, will
still
its locality
be involved in
moral relations both to him and to each other. In that world where there are greater and
lesser,
there are differences of capacity as there also are of opportunity,
ethical
and these
at once carry with
The teaching
demands.
rarely projects itself so far, as in the parable service here will be bility hereafter.
of
of Jesus,
them
however,
and then only to
hint,
the talents, that faithful
rewarded by increased responsi-
But that impUes that the con-
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
82
men
duct and temper which would qualify
for
entrance into the kingdom, would be continued
under the changed conditions of the blessed
When
Jesus
tells
that he
mean
is
who has commended
the scribe
of the
his selection
two great commandments,
not far from the kingdom, he does not
that on reaching
God and
it
wiU have no more claim on him
would
obligations
not be
fulfilled in
joyous
the
life.
still
his
neighbour
for love.
These
continue, but they would
bondage to law, they would be
outflow of
preaching the coming
spiritual
In
affection.
kingdom Jesus never
of the
supposed himself to be either proclaiming the future abrogation of religion
others,
He was
event,
would
The scope its
duty, or founding a
and inaugurating a new morality
yet unborn. natural
all
for ages
the herald of a vast super-
which,
whatever
affect Israel first
of this event
issue
its
and
was undefined
;
;
around but his
function was to prepare his people for
and though few might be chosen, great invitation forth to
shed so
much
light
all.
upon the
for
chief of all.
margin he drew no precise limits
first
new
it,
to carry the
In doing so he
spiritual foundations
of all social life that his insights
have supplied
THE PERMANENCE OF MORALITY
83
the best guidance for feeling and action ever since.
wandering
It is quite true that the stories of the
son or the Samaritan traveller are not confined within the time-frame in which so
at
and have
large,
many
They belong
sayings are presented.
just
to
much
as
of Jesus'
humanity
significance
whether the resurrection and the judgment be
But
near or remote.
much more, the heroic summons to immediate the breach
which
is
well to
be '
with
it
is
disciple.
'
are at
true that
surrender of property, or
family
No
less
note of renunciation, the
imply
ties,
about to pass away.
them that
no
'
Let
me
an
order
bid fare-
my house,' pleads a would-
man,' repUes Jesus austerely,
having put his hand to the plough, and looking
back,
is fit
for the
kingdom
of God.'
(iii)
There was, however, in Jewish usage another sense in which the
kingdom was not something
destined to arrive from outside, realized
through religion
itself.
the faithful recognized the rule of fact.
it
was already
The hearts of God as a present
The divine sovereignty might be exercised
through the Law.
A
convert
who
repeated the
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
84
sacred confession of the Divine Unity beginning *
O
Hear,
one ' (Deut. the yoke
Lord thy God, the Lord
Israel, the vi. 4-9),
was
said to
'
take upon himself
Why,
of the kingdom.'
is
was asked, did
it
this precede the second passage selected as its
sequel, Deut. xi. 13-21, with its promises to the
obedient and order,'
its
warnings to the disloyal
was the answer,
'
that a
?
man may
'
In
first
take on himself the yoke of the kingdom, and afterwards
yoke
the
the
of
commandments.'
This was no galling burden, but a privilege and delight
was contrasted with the yoke
it
;
of
worldly care, or again with the yoke of political
The
subjection.
service
response of Israel to
of
its
the
Law was
heavenly Lord
;
the
and
while the rabbis piled up their rules of minute
observance round the sabbath, they did so in
honour of Israel.'
it
as
It is
'
a day of the holy kingdom for
only a step
reaching significance
kingdom
—though a step
—from
as a rule of
of
it
God embodied
God is
an actual
in
more
spiritual
implied in the usual interpretation of
the sa5dng of Jesus {Luke xvii. 21), of
of far-
this conception of the
collection of positive laws to the
view
all
within you.'
'
The kingdom
The conscience
is
the sphere
INWARDNESS OF THE KINGDOM of
He
God's government.
and
dwells as king
Through our
judge within the heart.
85
affections
he claims our allegiance, as law and love meet
and the obedience
of
transmuted into the fellowship
of
and blend within the the subject the
is
Here,
son.
soul,
is
it
any
rate,
if
an
of
exercises its
sway over
and reveals
itself in
The
fact,
potential
not actually realized.
expression
of right.
kingdom
suggested,
appears as a universal spiritual at
the
It is the
sovereignty,
ethical
which
all
conscious moral agents,
man
through the authority
interpretation
is,
however, chal-
lenged even in the margin of our Revised Version,
where an alternative rendering
kingdom the
of
heaven
kingdom was
in the
is
not,
its
;
it
The
'
For
midst of you,'
Jesus was replying.
of its righteousness, its peace,
joy in the Holy Spirit.
might be
offered,
pleaded, in the hearts
whom
of the Pharisees, to
They showed none
it is
is
'
Among them
was already planted
munity around them
;
in the
'
it
com-
could they but open their
eyes to see, they would find the seed already sprouting
;
had they only the
real insight,
they
would note how the leaven had begun to work.
But
early students of the Gospel understood the
^
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
86 words
in yet another sense
'
:
your power,' said Tertullian,
in
do the command to lay hold of
and steadfast
God
of
said
it,'
'
if
you hear and
'it lies in
;
by
'
C5n-il,
your power
loyal purpose
however, an adequate
Is that,
act.'
'
your hands,
in
it is
explanation of the words in their present context
?
The Pharisees have enquired when the kingdom, which Jesus declared to be so near, would come.
The Teacher answers that
to watch for its sun-rise
it it
;
no brightening dawn
;
appear
will
be
approach and say will 1
Those who take
this
for
lo, there,'
!
view point out that
be.'
A
'
is
The future
ably expressed. will
so sudden will
;
its it
be already in their midst.
speech of Jesus the verb
'
precede
be no time to point to
Lo, here
'
will
like lightning (ver. 24),
flashing unheralded across the sky its arrival, there will
really
be no use
it will
similar
'
'
shall say
observation
passages, such as Matt. v.
in the
Aramean
would not be required or prob-
3, 10, all
is
suggests a parallel to
some other
the other blessings having
An
the future in the second clause.
a more mystical interpretation
'
applies
interesting glimpse into
gained from one of the
You Oxyrhynchus Logia {Oxyrhynchus Papyri, iv. 6) who are those that draw us to the kingdom if the kingdom :
'
ask is
in
heaven
?
.
.
.
The fowls
of the air
and
all
the beasts
that are under the earth or upon the earth, these are they
which draw you, and the kingdom whosoever
shall
know
of
heaven
himself shall find
it.'
is
within you,
THE KINGDOM AS A PRESENT FACT
8/
(iv)
Whatever be the particular interpretation these famous words, logical
clear that the eschato-
it is
view of the kingdom
was not inconsistent
But
When
it
was
also in
some sense
Jesus pronounces a blessing on
the poor in the crowd of listeners before him,
yours
is
this
at the outset of Jesus' preach-
ing with the belief that present.
too deeply planted
is
be other than original.
in the Gospels to
of
the kingdom of
probable that he
is
God {Luke '
'
for
vi. 20), it is
not stating a spiritual fact (as
Matt. V. 3 suggests), but declaring that the kingdom will hereafter
belong to them,
when those that weep
now under
oppression shall laugh in liberty.
the
flock
the
'
little
kingdom
'
who would
at God's
receive the gift of
hand {Luke
said to be its seed already.
But
xii. 32),
As
their
might be
numbers
grew, the heavenly rule would silently extend
sway.
The leaven was
its
at work, gradually per-
vading the community, carrying force into unexpected quarters,
its
and
expanding
effecting the
preparation for the great arrival of the sovereignty
from on high. forces of
But the period within which these
growth would operate, was very
We read these parables in the midst of an
short.
age-long
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
88
We
development.
them
use
as symbols of vast
perspectives of moral and religious evolution, the future phases of which have yet to be fulfilled, are
beyond our power to
of riddle
and
Their original
was much more confined,
application, however,
and a kind
forecast.
produced by the attempt
is
to present the process in a totally different time-
frame.
In the light of history
we suppose that
Jesus figured the kingdom to himself as originally
lodged in a small group of chosen followers
who
should ultimately swell into a mighty host spread all
over the face of the earth influence
ethical-spiritual
transform the institutions of
;
or possibly as an
which should slowly
human things into
the
vehicles of a divine Order, where God's will should
be done on earth as in heaven.
Neither of these
conceptions corresponds to the apocalyptic element in
his
teaching.
He
cendent manifestation his people to its
ere
it
arrives,
something
it is
awaken
his part to
and show them the
But the heavenly of a
;
a great trans-
imminence, to win them to repent
God demands from harmony
looks for
those
rule will be
few select
wills
immeasurable,
dispositions
who would
enter
it.
much more than
the
on earth
;
marvellous,
it
will
for
be the
THE VICTORY OVER EVIL
must be overthrown, and the power
forces of evil of the
89
Adversary crushed.
In the course of his activity Jesus seems to have
reached
the
that
conviction
rule of
the rule of the Opposer, the Satan. in
many
had
victory
this
Over against the
already begun.
It
God
lay
was exerted
ways, and so completely enveloped the
existing scene that
day to
of a later
in the Evil
One
swarmed out
(i
it
was
possible for the disciple
affirm that the whole world lay
John
v. 19).
and the
of the abyss,
demonic forces
Its
sufferers
whom
they drove to disease and madness became the victims of
its
The
tyranny.
ability of Jesus to
control these hapless patients drew
him the maHgnant charge that he by the
aid of their
own
and
demons
How
prince, Beelzebub.
foolish, retorts Jesus, to
divide his power
down upon
cast out
suppose that Satan will
cast out himself
he was leagued with a lord of
And
!
if
by whom, he
hell,
asks the Pharisees, did their disciples work their cures
?
'
Let
them judge you
wrought by God's rule
spirit, it
was already extending
!
'
But
if
he
was plain that God's itself
over them.
The
kingdom, then, was actually entering the existing scene
;
it
lay, in
some
sense, with
him
;
he was
;
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
90
more than
its herald,
he was
its
representative, its organ, the its
of a
new hope
He looked back over
his heart.
the great days of king and prophet. of the
its
instrument of
first
The germ
great transformation.
was thus planted in
inaugurator,
The Queen
South had come to learn wisdom of Solomon
Jonah had persuaded the men repent
;
of
;
Nineveh to
but in the promise of the kingdom there
was something greater still^
woe to the indifferent
;
generation which they would arise to condemn.
His own success was confirmed by his followers.
When
the disciples return
unexpected powers
he has seen Satan
—the demons had submitted —he joyously declares that
fall like
the power of evil
is
where the Adversary
and
is
gladness in their
name
at their Master's
wards
full of
lightning from the sky
expelled from the heaven
still
dared to claim a place,
cast out as swiftly as the kingdom, he afteraffirms, shall enter in^ {ante p. 86.)
These
him above hours
seasons of exaltation lifted
of
disappointment and moments of anger at mis^
Matt.
margin 2
Luke
ality,
later
xii.
41-42.
The neuter
indicates, should not X. 18.
adjective, as the Revisers*
be interpreted personally.
The saying has
all
the appearance of origin-
though the Evangelist seems to have placed connexion than
it
it
probably originally occupied.
in
a
'
THE QUESTION AT CAESAREA PHILIPPI understanding or
and they
failure, coldness or opposition
finally led
him
I
am
The answers
Common
'
and
'
Who
say you
?
had already been busy with
talk
country-side.
It
carried
it
all
his
through the
had even penetrated into Herod's
and the conscience-stricken king had
court,
Who
'
to these questions are significant.
Rumour had
name.
fied
?
identi-
him with the murdered John come back
life.
;
to ask of his disciples
at C^sarea Philippi, the decisive questions
do men say
QI
to
Others conjectured that one of the ancient
prophets had been allowed to reappear imagination fixed on the preacher of the
great divine event, Elijah.
had divined the Special dignity
{Mark
None
Plainly,
truth.
;
no claim to any ;
;
among
his
new
—as
still
a prophet
countrymen, at any
he had won no distinctive place
which he preached.
he might
he might describe himself
in a proverbial phrase
vi. 4)
the
of these guesses
had yet been made
be addressed as Rabbi
—perhaps
new
'
or the forerunner of
Jeremiah,
covenant,'
and
;
But
in the
rate,
kingdom
in the inner circle of the
had been gaining
disciples
a
ground.
Who was this teacher who had sent them
forth
?
When
conviction
he bade them preach the advent
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
92 of the
kingdom, he had said nothing of himself
;
yet he had charged them to heal the sick and cast
out demons, and disease had fled at their word
{Mark
vi,
7-13)
The power he exercised he could
!
impart to them
nay, so mighty was his
;
that others could use joined their
little
successfully
it
band {Mark
name
who had not To
ix. 38).
those
most intimately associated with him he must needs seem incomparably greater than any
him could
tales
That mysterious power
suggest.
personality which wrought in
touch, no gossip about
him
in
secret
hope grew
minds
rose in the
of
word and look and S3magogue or bazaar
As
or village market-place could ever convey.
own
about
his
clearer, a parallel conviction
They must
of the disciples.
have been questioned often enough about him.
When
they entered a hamlet to buy food or seek a
night's lodging, they
must have been asked whose Curiosity might have to
messengers they were.
remain unsatisfied
grow of
larger
but the wonder of
;
day by day
till
it all
at length the
confidence and disclosure comes,
bursts forth,
The
secret
'
Thou
moment
and Peter
art the Messiah.'^
which teacher and ^
would
Mark
viii.
29.
disciples
had
THE MESSIAHSHIP
93
thus come to share without communicating
each other,
is
at last revealed.
and must be kept in
peril
name might
it is full
of
Israel to victory.
But the
'
He would
he would carry
;
lead
gospel of the king-
Pharisee
and Sadducee had gone out to the Jordan
John
be no
Romans and
be preached in the capital.
'
the
which lay
easily rouse expectations
national leader to expel the
'
to
strict reserve, for
outside Jesus' whole vision.
dom must
True,
it
the word
'
to
to hear
them
in
the centre of their activity, and challenge the
whole hierarchy to repent. volved grave
risks.
No
The
enterprise
one could
tell
in-
how
a
with the temple-authorities might end.
conflict
There were dismal traditions of the persecutions of the preachers of righteousness.
an
evil
fame as the slayer
disciples, therefore,
of
Jerusalem had prophets.
The
must be forewarned, and
in
the light of later issues these warnings assumed
more
definite
and
traditions embodied
specific
in
shape. ^
But
the
Mark, and moulded by
the Evangelist into a kind of apology for the cross, clearly indicate the presence of a 1
It does not, however,
meant
new element
seem possible to suppose that Jesus
deliberately to provoke his
own
death.
— JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
94
For the
in Jesus' outlook.
Man,^ who
come in the glory of
will
the holy angels this
advent
is
{Mark
his Father with
The purpose
viii. 38).
not defined
words that follow
in the
time he makes
first
appearance of the Son of
definite reference to the
it is,
;
' :
of
however, implied
Verily I say unto you,
There be some here of them that stand by, which
no wise taste
shall in
kingdom
of death,
God come with
of
till
they see the
The kingdom
power.'
would be inaugurated with the judgment, when
Man would
sit
on the throne
The language
of
Matt.
the Son of glory.2
accordingly,
The Son his angels
of
more
Man
shall
and then
;
to his deeds.
explicit
come
xvi.
27-28
in the glory of his Father,
Verily I say unto you, There be
man
Son
of
Man coming
with
according
some
that stand here which shall in no wise taste of death, see the
is,
:
he render unto every
shall
of his
of till
them they
kingdom.
in his
(V)
The journey
to Jerusalem
and apprehension. 1
On
of
is full
mingled hope
Prospects of danger and of
Maii. x. 23 see p. 77!.
It
may
be noticed that the
preceding passage 17-22 corresponds to a section in the great eschatological discourse placed Olives, ^
xiii.
Enoch
9-13,
xlv.
3,
by Mark on the Mount
which contains indications Ixix 27
;
Matt. xxv. 31.
of later date.
of
JESUS AT JERUSALEM
95
triumph, alternate before the leader's vision as
he presses ever forwards, and his adherents follow
dumb
To James and
with amazement and alarm.
John he puts the searching question, ?
'
Can you
f or
a bitter draught
of suffering
and sorrow may be
offered to him.
But
Twelve he blithely promises twelve
drink the cup that I drink
to the
'
thrones for judgment over the twelve tribes of
The
Israel.
procession
little
passes
He
Jericho and the crowd grows apace.
upon an
to Jerusalem
peaceful king
;
ass,
prophetic
acclaimed as
in front
and
rear.
rides in
emblem
of a
he that cometh
name by
with blessing in the Lord's
marched
*
through
those
'
who
The procession climbs
the steep slope beneath the city-walls, and, unchecked, enters the Temple, where his spirit
is
roused to the one high-handed act of his career,
and he drives the forth.
traffickers
and money-changers
Questioned about his right to disturb the
sanctuary
with
such
violence,
he parries the
attack with a counter-question as to the source of John's baptism,
situation grows
deputations
from heaven, or
of
men.
The
more hopeless day by day.
bring their pitiful dilemmas
strained expectation begins to give way,
;
The but
and he
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
96
at length convinced that nothing can be expected
is
from the
teachers
professed
Temple must
fall
;
reHgion
of
the
;
and the kingdom pass to an-
other and more fruitful people. It is at this point that
apocalyptic sits
ascribed
discourse
with his four
Mark
inserts the long
to
earliest followers
Jesus
as
he
on the Mount
of Olives, gazing across the valley at the glittering
buildings of the
where
else
many
so
city of the great King.'^
No-
does Mark attempt to mass together
sayings in continuous sequence.
singularly
are
'
mixed
in
character.
They
Warnings
against false Christs, predictions of wars, earth-
quakes,
and
and famines, visions
terror of the
Roman
of
the
sufferings
invasion, blend with
encouragements to endurance
in persecution, fore-
sight of apostles before Sanhedrin
and governor,
or even, possibly, prevision of the horrors of the
Neronian orgy at Rome.^
The prophecy
cul-
minates in the announcement of the coming of
1
The privacy
of this utterance to a small select group
a way of indicating that 2
it
is
was not commonly knovra.
Cp. the Rev. B. H. Streeter, in Studies in the Synoptic
Problem, edited by Prof. Sanday, 191
1,
p.
181.
:
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN the Son of Man, which
97
Matthew adorns with some
additional details.
Mark But
Matt. xxiv. 29-31.
xiii 24-27,
those
in
days,
But immediately,
after
after the
that tribulation, the sun shall
tribulation of those days the
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken
sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and then light,
:
;
shall
and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and
And then shall
glory.
see the
the
he send
part
the
the
of
of
Man coming on heaven with
of
And he
glory.
shall
send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and gather
shall
from
of
Son
clouds
great
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to
to-
gether his elect from the four
winds,
tribes
earth mourn, and they shall
forth the angels,
and
the
all
the
uttermost
earth,
to
the
the other.
uttermost part of heaven.
The day and the hour that secret
is
arrival in the
of this crisis are
unknown
God
But
reserved for
immediate future
alone.
three Evangelists
34-35
;
Verily
Luke I
{Mark
xxij 32-33)
xiii.
its
declared with
is
the utmost clearness, in language
;
common
13-31
;
to all
Matt. xxiv.
:—
say unto you. This generation
shall
not pass away,
G
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
98
Heaven and earth
until all these things be accomplished.
away, but
shall pass
It
my
been
has
elements
long
here
are
handled them most
most
words
in
shall
not pass away.
recognized
that
combination.
freely,
various
Luke has
and given to them the
application to the destruction of
explicit
From what sources, however, have they been derived ? What alien Jerusalem
(xxi,
21-24).
prophecies have been mixed with the words of the
Teacher
?
And by what marks can they be
distinguished
Such questions are more
?
But the most cautious
asked than answered. English scholarship
is
easily
beginning to acknowledge
the diversity of points of view which the discourse contains.
Charles
Prof.
ago
long
noted
the
combination of two mutually exclusive anticipations of the great change.^
Advent
of the
surprise
;
Son
series
students
still
According to one the
Man would
take the world by
another expected a long and
while
terrible
of
of
see
premonitory
no reason
for
while they admit the probability changes. 1
Prof,
signs.
Some
such partition, of
some
editorial
Stanton, of Cambridge, on the
Hebrew and Christian Eschatology,
p.
3233.
He
even
referred the crucial verses, quoted above, to a Jewish source.
THE APOCALYPSE IN MARK
XIII
QQ
other hand, in the course of an elaborate inquiry into the materials
employed by the Evangelists/ probably came into
concludes that this piece
Mark's hands as a separate written composition,
founded on a Jewish Christian document, written perhaps a
in Palestine before 70 a.d.,
after
More adventurous investigators
the year 60.*
Wellhausen and Loisy (not to mention their
like
suppose
predecessors)
apocalypse sions
lies at
may
that
a
short
Jewish
the base, with Christian expan-
and additions,
Jesus
of
little
which some actual words
in
perhaps
this confusion certainty
Plummer reminds us
be
impossible.
is
that
incorporated.
'
In
Even Dr.
we have constantly
to
remember that we cannot be sure that we have got the exact words which our Lord employed.'^ 1
The Gospels as Historical Documents,
2
Mr, Streeter takes a similar view, with a preference for
a date about
pt. II, p. 1153.
70, Studies in the Synoptic Problem, p. 183.
Commentary on Matthew, 1909, p. 338. diiificulty presses on traditional orthodoxy 3
How
heavily the
may
be seen in
the words of Prof. Inge, of Cambridge, in a sermon before the University.
'
Very few
apocalyptic prophecy in
critics
Mark
1
3
two more innocent interpolations
;
accept as authentic the
may of the
there not be one or
same kind
?
I
do
not wish entirely to exclude the possibility that our Lord in
becoming
man may have
been willing to share, to some
—
— JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
100
the Gospel evidence
If
any other testimony
One
we
;
further scene
thus indecisive,
is
there
is
?
must be
briefly
noted before
The passover
leave our Synoptic narratives.
approaches, and (according to our present texts)
with the Twelve.^
Jesus prepares to celebrate
it
He
the gathering opposi-
has divined his danger
tion of the priestly party
;
is
culminating in a plot
and mingled yearnings, hopes, and
How
through his words. that meal with
wine together
them
The next time they drink
!
be at the great banquet in the
will
extent, the current popular illusions,
both with regard to the
But
Messianic hope and demoniacal possession.
must not be stretched
so far as to admit
far less
this certainly
that he fancied
Man
himself fiUhig the role of Daniel's Son of future.
sound
fears,
he has longed to eat
in the near
Such a notion would not be compatible with with those attributes which
to have possessed.'
Guardian,
on the other hand, ascribing
all
May
13,
sanity,
Christians believe 1910.
him
Prof. Burkitt,
this or similar language to Jesus
himself, thinks that he can only be relieved of the charge of '
megalomania
'
by
the consideration that though
so clearly foretold did not come,'
Athanasian Creed accordingly provides a justifying
ourselves
for
paying
'
'
worship
The
starting-point in '
to
him.
Athanasian Creed and Liberal Christianity, 19 10, pp. 1
the end
the Church did.
The grave divergence now admitted between the
Three Gospels and the Fourth does not concern us
The
17, 24.
here.
First
IN
kingdom
THE HIGH PRIEST'S HALL Is
!
life
at
{Luke
so
the thrones in the
xxii. 18-30
Matt. xxvi. 29)
;
any rate, the passage to
shadow
of the
he can
that
near,
then,
among
it,
appoint a meeting
lOI
it
that has been
crisis
hand.
close at
is
For him,
hes through the valley
The
of death.
a possibihty for weeks
?
new
Under
the olives in Gethsemane he gains strength to
meet
The
it.
issue
is
not clear to him, but God's
will shall
be done, and
will drink
it.
if
the cup
The moment
and brings with
it
given him he
is
of arrest fixes the issue,
the calm of anticipated doom.
Amid confused charges and contradictory testimony he bears himself in silence in the judgmenthall.
At length the high-priest can contain himself
no longer
;
he
rises
from
and confronts his
his seat
victim with the direct question,
Messiah reserve
?
'
It
by the
shall see the
Son
the Power,
of
heaven. '1
^
So Mark
is
met without
direct assertion of
Man
Are you the
'
or
qualification :
'
am, and ye
I
sitting at the right
hand
and coming with the clouds
of
In the usual identification of the Son
xlv. 62
;
from the indirect reply
others have inferred a refusal to answer.
a well-known Aramaic equivalent for God. of Jesus, pp. 200-1.
in Matt. xxvi. '
The Power
—Dalman,
'
64 is
Words
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
102 of
man
with Jesus but one interpretation can be
The scene
put upon these words.
will soon
He
changed, and the situation will be reversed. will
be
be seated on the judge's throne, and his captors
will receive their
doom
at his hands.
But that did not happen. (vi)
It is pleaded that detail.
None
was present executed as
of the
at '
we cannot trust an exceptional immediate followers of Jesus
the
He
trial.
was,
the king of the Jews,' according to
the popular notion of the Messiah. course,
no
confession.
however,
That
is,
of
guarantee of the authenticity of his
But
it is diificult
to believe that the
general tenor of the charges brought against him,
and the nature substantial
of his reply,
accuracy.
were not kno\\Ti with
The
disciples
were
not
dependent afterwards solely on hostile testimony.
Joseph of Arimathea, who begged his body from Pilate,
was himself a member
of the Sanhedrin,
and may be presumed to have been meeting and heard his words.
at the council-
When
the apostles
returned to Jerusalem from Galilee, and gathered
up
the remembrances of the fatal night, can
we
THE HOPE OF THE EARLY CHURCH suppose
that
had
they
some
not
evidence of incident and speech
At any
was
first-hand
?
rate, the expectation of the early
plain.
If
we
phors too rigidly,
warned by
are
modem
Church
scholars
interpret vivid oriental meta-
we must not
that
IO3
may
it
be said that this caution
should have been addressed to the Apostle Paul. Before any of our present gospels had been written,
he had already described the approaching advent Messiah from the sky in the near future.
of the
Writing to the church at Thessalonica to comfort those
who
feared lest their dead kin should be left
out of the benefits of the parousia, he assures them that those first
already died should be the
to rise (i Thess. iv. 15-17).
For
we
who had
this
we say unto you by
that are alive, that are
the
left in
the Lord, shall in no wise precede
For the Lord himself
shall
word
them that
God2
;
and the dead
that are alive, that are 1 It is
are fallen asleep.
descend from heaven, with
shout, with the voice of the archangel, of
of the Lord,'- that
the coming {parousia) of
in Christ shall rise first
left,
shall together
s,
and with the trump :
then
we
with them be caught
not necessary here to inquire whether this
is
to be
understood of a direct revelation to Paul himself, or of the authority of apostolic tradition, 2
For the trumpet cp. 2 Esdras vi. 23.
viii. 2,
I
Cor. xv. 52, Matt. xxiv. 31, Rev.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
104 up
in the clouds, to
we be
meet the Lord
m
the air
and
:
so shall
ever with the Lord.
The predictions attributed not be regarded as
weeks after
'
on the ground
the Lord
twenty years or so
Pentecost, seven
fulfilled at
his death,
identification of
to Jesus, then, can-
'
with
of St. Paul's
the Spirit,' for
'
later the great Apostle
How
looking for the Messiah's return.
was
still
could this
hope, which pervades the literature of the
first
age of the Church, have been so passionately cherished
if
it
had not had some foundation
in
The nature
of
the language of Jesus himself that foundation, however, If
is
?
exceedingly obscure*
Jesus expected himself to appear in the char-
acter of the
Son
of
Man on
clouds of light,
it is
You
shall
strange that he should never have said see
me
coming.'
Moreover, this mysterious figure
had already shared the heavenly star
with
were made it,
why
'
If
(p. 71).
life
before sun and
Jesus identified himself
does he give no hint that he had
already descended to occupy a
human form
?
The
Fourth Evangelist does not hesitate to explain that the Son will return to the glory which he
by the way
of the cross
had with the Father before
the world came into being.
But
in the
Synoptic
THE TITLE
'
SON OF MAN
presentment the Rabbi-prophet
home above
the
and anguish
a few hours
What were
compared with the
suffering
exaltation of the Judge of
earlier
unintelligible in
the prospect of impending triumph. of
no
the uncertainty
Gethsemane are
of
IO5
tells of
And
skies.
'
all
mankind
It is of
!
obvious on the gospel-page that Jesus
course
again and again applies the
title
'
Son
Man
of
'
to
himself.
But there are
show how
readily tradition might shape his words
sufficient
instances to
into this mould, for while one Evangelist reports
them
in the third person, another unhesitatingly
employs the
In the two following cases,
first.
seems to be alternately with
for example, priority
Matthew and Luke. Matt. v.
when men
shall reproach you,
say
you
all
manner
falsely for
Luke
II.
Blessed are ye
.
.
.
and
vi. 22.
Blessed are ye shall
.
.
.
when men
reproach you, and
name
of evil against
cast out your
my
the Son of Man's sake.
sake.
Luke
Matt. XX. 28.
Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but
am
as evil for
xxii. 27.
midst of you as he that serveth. I
in the
to serve.
In
one
designation
significant '
Son
of
saying Luke employs the
Man
'
in such a
way
as to
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
I06
imply a clear difference between Jesus and that exalted personality, Every one who
Son
Man
of
No
xii. 8.
shall confess
me
before men,
him
shall the
also confess before the angels of God.
one, probably, reading these
words
for the
first
time, would identify the speaker with the
Son
of
Man.
Matthew's version of the phrase
significantly omits the title,
and only
states (x. 32)
that whoever acknowledges Jesus before men, shall
be acknowledged by him before his Father
in heaven.
This seems the function of a witness
rather than a judge. varies feel
When
from gospel to gospel,
the language thus
impossible to
is
it
any absolute security about the words
He
specific passage.
the nations.'
I
never says
*
I
in
shall
any
judge
can, therefore, but state a per-
sonal impression, namely, that Jesus did use the figure of the
coming
of the
Son
of the inauguration of the it
more
of the
of
Man
as a
symbol
kingdom, connecting
or less definitely with the anticipation
judgment.
That he supposed himself to
be designated to that high
office,
and expected
after death to take his seat at God's right hand,
and descend thence amid the
summon
angelic throng to
the world to his great assize, appears to
HAS LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY FAILED
His own concep-
pass the bounds of likelihood.
tion of his Messiahship appears to
Lord.i
the
of
prophetic
the
to
itself
His
figure
have attached the
of
the
confidence in
the age, ere his
close of
have passed away,
rose
lOJ
?
Servant speedy-
own
generation should
out
of
conviction
his
that the evils of the time must soon provoke
God's purifying work.
triumph
faith that the
The victory
hand. delayed
his
;
it
;
always the prophet's
of the
good must be at
God's
of
will
cannot
be
purpose of righteousness must be
already on the arrest
It is
way
those to
no human opposition can
;
whom
Jesus speaks shall see
the kingdom.
Their hope, however, was not
fulfilled.
did not come back.
The attempts
coming
Man
of the
Son
Pentecost or the
view
of
fall of
to connect the
with the experiences of
Jerusalem break down in
of the fixed idea of the early
Church that the
vanished Christ would personally reappear. that great event never occurred, and
part of
with
has
modem
it ?
failed,
We
faith,
Jesus
is
are told that
if
no longer
does Christianity pass '
But
away
Liberal Christianity
because the teaching of Jesus which
'
is
iCp. The First Three Gospels, 4th ed. 1909, pp. 383, 390.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
I08
the salt of our higher
life
was never designed
the vast historic evolution in which
Be
the central place. that his
name would be
or that the thoughts
would
it
for
stiU holds
it
that he did not foresee
round the globe,
carried
and hopes which he awakened and
suffice to sustain the trust of continents
generations to our day.
The
fact remains that
the Christian ideal conquered the ancient paganism
and proved the animating
the Church.
spirit of
Which was the more potent argument apologetic (for both were used), hesitate like
beheve
to
our
in
wonders are related
iEsculapius,' or
'
said like him, "
use you."
Rome,
?
and
You need
your
of
Believe, because
no
Here bore
is
the
not
because
Christ,
Love your enemies,
that curse you, and pray for '
'
of Christian
Perseus
man bless
or
ever
them
them that despitefuUy
the power which subdued
tremendous
burden
of
mediaeval claims to keep the keys of heaven and hell.
That which preserved Christianity
from age to age, and prevented
by a vast mass and
from being
of alien importations,
moral and religious of a higher
it
ideal, the
alive stifled
was
its
constant challenge
holier character, impersonated in
a great historic figure so that
all
could see.
It
FAILURE OF ESCHATOLOGICAL CHRISTIANITY IO9 is
in reality eschatological Christianity
did
It
failed.
work
its
in supplying the
motive for the Christian missions
but
;
soon found necessary to transmute
forms of the inner gospel
life
promise of his coming
the
interpretations
planting
them
Church.
ideas
to
Where
is
by non-natural or
;
'
to
evade the
by
'
i.
deliverer lo),
from the
the triumph of
the cults which surrounded intrinsic superiority of its
spiritual force.
and
the
(i Thess.
'
was due to the
liberalism
?
'
sacred books contained
as
Jesus
coming wrath
into the
it
the teachers of a later age ceased
Christianity over
and
Scripture
its
was
securely on the authority of the
When
present
to
of
which
difficulty
it
suggested in the Fourth
or to reply to the question
;
which has
immediate
disengage
hopes
the task of
It is
this
through
force
which
it
it
moral
modern
from
the
was
first
conveyed, as well as from the dogmatic forms
by which The robes
it
of
removed from in
was subsequently circumscribed. an unreal dignity are being slowly its
central personality.
which Jesus now takes
The world
his place is infinitely
vaster both in space and time than he or his
contemporaries could have conceived.
The
per-
— no
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
spectives of the future which were closed to him,
have already lengthened to embrace nineteen cen-
and no one dreams
turies,
ing term for the world's
of fixing
an approach-
But the
life.
ideals of
the Gospel have awakened with new might.
more
more powerful
eliminated, the
Truly
appeal.
yet
its
temporary associations are
their
clearly
is
The
it
is
said that
'
permanent
their
Christianity has
grandest victories to win.'^
It
has been the
the highest art and the noblest
inspiration
of
poetry.
has largely evoked and sustained the
most
It
energy of our time
significant
extravagance
—
the
—whatever
passion
It Hes at the heart of the
social welfare.
ment
may
it
assume
of international peace
and goodwill.
for
moveIt has
descended as a great tradition into a scene infinitely
more complex than that light,
and
it
is
Beneath the
deeper sway. too often in
which
in
its
when it
its
it is
churches,
its
name.
1
Dr.
good deal
Drummond,
it
mighty impulses are
who never wish
Eschatological Christianity
really understood
will carry a
saw the
lip-service paid to
yet moving multitudes outside to hear
it first
advancing towards wider and
of
—
will pass
away, and
decaying doctrine with
in Jesus or Christ, 1909, p. 208.
—
—
PERMANENT ELEMENT it.
The Apocalyptic
IN CHRISTIANITY
III
Christ will be seen to be the
centre of a mirage, the brilliant but elusive figure
We
of a dream.
shall cease to cherish expecta-
But the
which history so soon refuted.
tions
spirit of life
which was
in Jesus Christ will continue
to inspire man's best efforts for
and the eternal longing the prayer for the
God
Thy kingdom come, thy As
progress
for justice will still
rule of
'
human
in heaven, so
:
prompt
'
will
be done.
on earth.
NOTE Among many of
Schweitzer
already
English readers
works
recent discussions, beside that
may
cited,
the
attention
of
be directed to the following
:
The Prophet
of Nazareth,
by
Prof. N. P. Schmidt,
1905;
The Life
of Christ in
Sanday,
1907
Recent Research,
by
Prof.
;
The Papers read by
Prof. F. G.
Harvard University) and
Peabody
Prof. Burkitt
(of
(Cam-
bridge) at the Third Congress of the History
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
112
of Religions,
1908
Transactions, vol.
Oxford,
;
Jesus according
to S.
Thompson, 1909
The
ii.,
valuable
Gospels,
M.
on
the
Synoptic
C. G. Montefiore, 2 vols., 1909,
writer's Elements of the Religious
Teaching of Jesus, 1910
And The
J.
;
Commentary
by Mr.
and the same
Mark, by the Rev.
;
Eschatology of the Gospels,
von Dobschiitz, 1910
(lectures at the
School of Theology, Oxford, 1909).
by
Prof.
Summer
Ill
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST Between
the Sermon on the
Mount and the
Creed of the Council of Nicea (325 a.d.) there
an interval
of nearly three centuries.
period big with
momentous
issues, for it
was a
was the
saw Christianity
formative age of the Church.
It
launched into the midst of the
Roman
first
It
is
Empire, at
derided and persecuted, then victorious and
triumphant.
The teachings
carried forth to the Greek of the
wrath
of
;
of the Galilean
were
and the apocalypse
God was captured and transformed
by philosophy.
Singular indeed
tion implied in the ascription
is
the combina-
of the
Book
of
Revelation and the Fourth Gospel to one author.
The one
is full
is
the hero of both.
by which
these
and tumult, the other
of passion
mirrors a wondrous calm
To
;
but the same person
trace in detail the steps
two conceptions were fused
to-
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
114 gether,
is
the work of the historian of Christian
He must
doctrine.
and record numerous experiments
of influences,
ere the
take account of a wide variety
result
was reached.
Here
only to suggest a point of view.
it
is
possible
We all of us have
of necessity our presuppositions.
Our previous
training, our range of knowledge, the forms of our
mould our
religious experience, all contribute to
Among
judgment and shape our thought.
the
preconceptions which are often brought to the great enquiry,
the
is
the belief that the process of
development
doctrine
of
person of Jesus Christ interpretation '
true
God
of the
out of true
of the Church, but of discussion,
where.
The
Christianity
was
first
and
'
is
historian is
'
rests
the
The *
as
on the authority
the result of generations
not without parallel of
religion
learns
else-
that
not the only religion whose founder
presented in
human form and
worshipped as divine. the
concerning
really unique.
prophet of Nazareth
God
it is
it
was
of
Gotama
similar
(though
The person
Buddha passed through a
afterwards
not identical) transformation. It is well
repudiated
known all
that the founder of
Buddhism
ontological conceptions,
and de-
;
THE THEOLOGICAL BUDDHA clined
II5
to envelop his ethical teachings
in
metaphysical web.
He would answer none
catch-questions
contemporary sophists,
of
or that
it
had an
life
origin in time, that
bounded
and
was eternal
refused to affirm either that the world
in extension or
any
of the
was
it
infinite
So he explained
in space.
without the hypothesis of a soul, the universe
He
himself
away
leaving
without the need of Cause or God. died the death of man, and passed
no trace behind.
His followers might reverently
commemorate the
chief incidents of his career
they might make pious pilgrimages to the spots hallowed by his birth or his attainment of supreme
wisdom.
But they never approached him
prayer, or sought of
The afar
in
or strength.
might obey his words, and imitate
disciple off
him guidance
example.
his
But he
communion with the
worship, and entered into no
author and finisher of his
Teacher said
'
Live,
as
a
the Truth
as
your lamp
refuge
'
lamps to ;
with
and the Truth as ? ^
Some
turies or more, however, after the
Dtgha Nikaya,
as
not the
yourselves
to
your refuge and no other
1
Had
faith.
mendicants,
yourselves,
him no
offered
vol.
iii.
three cen-
Buddha's death
p. 58.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
Il6 a
new type
view.
The
indicated
of
Buddhism began
to
into
rise
steps of its development cannot be
here.
must
It
say
to
suffice
that
metaphysics demanded recognition on the side of philosophy, while religion sought for a living
and permanent object under the influence of thought
for
of these
its
and
;
two powerful impulses
was
feeling the discarded ontology
and
reinstated in the centre of the
the person of
affections
new
and
teaching,
the Buddha was interpreted
as a
manifestation of the Infinite and Eternal, the
and the Absolute.
Self -existent
who
Here was one
revealed himself from age to age, to meet the
manifold needs of the ignorant and erring
made
himself
known
as the Father of
the Healer of their sicknesses and basis of this
new
all
;
who
creatures,
sins.
On
the
teaching vast masses of Scripture
were compiled, and gigantic canonical collections gathered.
Heroic missionary efforts carried the
religion of revelation
through Eastern Asia,
till
China, Tibet, MongoHa, Corea and Japan, had received the saving truth
;
for v/hen the world's
welfare was concerned, said an old chronicler,
who
could
be
idle
or
ecclesiastical institutions
indifferent
Immense
?
were founded
;
worship
THE THEOLOGICAL BUDDHA was organized liturgies
temples were built
;
were composed
II7
hymns and
;
poetry, philosophy, art,
;
philanthropy, became the handmaids of faith
and unnumbered millions have
lived
and died
;
in
devout gratitude to the Buddha who thus deigned himself again and again for the welfare
to give
and deliverance
of the children of
men.
Here
is
a
historical process analogous to that of Christianity
among
peoples far more nimierous than those of
Roman
the
empire.
of experience
which
resemblance
to
true,
in
forms
some
cases bear astonishing
of
western Christianity.^
those
They have every The
It expresses itself in
right to be regarded as genuine.
historian cannot
mark
off
one set alone as
and dismiss the other as the products
falsehood,
or
folly,
both impartially
;
He must examine
fraud.
and
if
of
the preconception of
the uniqueness of Christianity prevents him from recognizing Buddhist values, he must not be surprised
if
the theologians of the East decline on
similar grounds to admit the exclusive claims of
those of the West. 1
See an article by the present writer on
Far East, or Salvation by Faith
:
'
Religion in the
a Study in Japanese
Buddhism,' in The Quest, April and July, 19 10.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
Il8
(i)
The development
of Christian speculation took
place under the influence of two great groups of Its
facts.
place,
foundation
in the
is
to be sought, in the
experiences, beliefs,
first
and hopes
of
the Church as recorded in the hterature of the
New
Testament.
These
were
shaped,
in
the
second place, in an atmosphere of thought and life
many
where
currents mingled, and Jewish
elements were blended with the manifold types
by Egyptian, Greek, and West
presented cults.
Even
Asiatic
the Christian Scriptures themselves
presuppose a very varied background of ideas
and the labours brought
of
much new
Judaism out
of
;
the last thirty years have light
to bear both on the
which Christianity emerged, and
the panorama of faiths and philosophies by which it
was immediately surrounded.
Old books have
been re-studied and are better understood hitherto
unknown have been
temporary
religions
the student
is
the Christian
discovered
have been investigated
con-
;
;
and
beginning to trace the effects of
and influence
their contact
books
;
in the
Jewish and
fields.
Under these
influences the traditional ideas of
THE WORLD OF THE JEW
II9
Jewish monotheism have been seriously modified.
The simple but profound
relations
and God which are presented Jesus,
and are
and vividness)
man
reflected (though with less force
in the oldest elements of the
liturgy, stand out in front of a
powers both good and
of
between
in the teachings of
manifold variety
which peopled the
evil,
worlds above and below.
Jewish
Seven heavens,^
it
was
beUeved, rose above the earth beyond the firma-
ment, corresponding to the Babylonian system
founded on the sun, moon, and
For a universe conceived on scale
new
this
series of inhabitants
As Enoch
planets.
must be provided.
conducted to the
is
five
more elaborate
first
heaven, he
sees there the rulers of the orders of the stars,
the angels who guard the treasuries of ice and snow,
and dew,
of cloud
angels
or
spirits
Jewish imagination placed
behind
hail
and
hoar-frost,
behind wind and thunder, behind cold and heat, even behind the changing seasons, with a vigorous
animism 1
delightful
The material
this section is
in this
to
the
anthropologist.
and the following paragraphs
In in
reproduced (by the kind permission of the
Editor of the Hibbert Journal) from the writer's article in the Hibbert Journal Supplement, p. 227,
where detailed references
1909,
will
'
Jesus or Christ,'
be found.
120
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
the upper
worlds
innumerable
beings of mingled good and
loftier
and
were
ill,
ranks of
the thrones
lordships, the principalities, authorities,
powers, so often
Those that were
named by
the Apostle
and
Paul.
hostile or rebelUous against the
establishment of the rule of God,
would be the
it
task of the Messiah to overcome and bring to
among them being who had been the
naught,
world
'
crucifixion
;
the
'
rulers of this
agents of the
real
and when they came up
for
judgment
the followers of the Messiah would join in their
condemnation at the great
assize.^
Here, too, were the celestial counterparts of the sacred localities of earth
:
the Paradise (in
the third heaven) into which the Apostle Paul believed himself to have been caught
Jerusalem which
Adam,
to
is
sky.
;
the
Abraham, and Moses, and was seen
in the visions of the
the
up
above, which was shown to
And
Apocalypse descending from
there,
likewise,
in
the
fourth
heaven, was the altar where Michael, prince-angel of the people of Israel, served as heavenly highpriest,
and acted as advocate and intercessor
the nation.
for
Exalted indeed was his personality. 1
I
Cor. vi.
3.
THE WORLD OF THE JEW
121
He was one of the four great Angels of the Presence. He bore in his hand the oath which governed He had been creation and directed the worlds. guide amid the vicissitudes of
Israel's
its history.
Through him had the Law been given to Moses, so that he
was designated as
tween God and man.'
He
^
'
the Mediator be-
led the people through
the wilderness, and intervened, sometimes successfully
and sometimes
ineffectually,
at the crises
Later imagination credited him with
of its fate.
having arrested the attack of Sennacherib, but
supposed that he had
Almighty to save
He
Israel
persuade the
from Nebuchadrezzar.
finally lead the angelic hosts to battle
with the great dragon,
Messiah with
like the
common.
its
whom whom
he would overthrow he had so
Even
was natural.
the
Synagogue found
when a man
is
necessary
it
in
to
XII
;
and the
enjoin
that
need he must pray directly
and neither to Michael nor
Many dim 1 Test.
in
New Testament
warnings against angel-worship
to God,
much
That such a being should be invoked
in distress
'
to
contended with Sammael for the body of Moses,
and would
has
failed
to Gabriel.'
forms pass through the mazes of Patriarchs,
'
Dan.'
vi.
Cp. Gal.
iii.
19.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
122 later
or
Jewish literature
of
the sacramental Presence
had
which
Shekhinah,
Sanctuary
;
brooded
over
the
the Metatron, sometimes the symbol
;
the divine
sovereignty over the world, the
representative of both orders of God's powers, the
and the active
intellectual
;
Memra
the
or
Word
which again and again in the Targums takes the place of the divine form in intercourse with the
patriarchs
which
the Power and the
;
Paul
Apostle
the
personated in Christ
afterwards
is
—obscure
and
by no means
separate objects
which
are
is
God,
saw im-
independent
to
which
it
how much of Some be ascribed. clear
caught up into a realm of
variously
is
belonging
of half
elusive figures to
always
existence
of
with other attributes like
;
Judgment and Mercy capable action
Wisdom
being
interpreted as purely ideal,
only to the
thought of God, or as
possessed of some kind of reality in the spheres
above.
Such were the heavenly Law, compris-
ing the
sum
ing
possible
of
universes
when he would of glory,
intellectual relations
create
into which
the
constitut-
God looked
world, the throne
the Patriarchs, Israel,
and Messiah's name (equivalent
the sanctuary,
in the philosophy
THE WORLD OF THE JEW
123
an older day to his personality or essence).
of
In the Assumption
Moses (assigned by Dr.
of
Charles to the beginning of our era) Moses
have been
to
the
before
created
said
is
and
world,
mysteriously reserved as a future instrument of the divine purpose.
So
not surprising that
is
it
the radiant form, of the Son of Man, identified in
Book
presented as
Enoch with the Messiah, should be brought into being before sun and
stars
p.
the
of
{ante^
conceptions of the the arguments
From as it
'
Strange, indeed, were the
71).
man, and stranger
first
by which they were supported.
a perversion of Ps. cxxxix.
interpreted
5,
thou hast formed me behind and
was inferred that he was created
before
the
Adam
after
equation
first
the
and
day,
day
the last
of
still
spirit
actual
in of
in
spirit
body
as
A
bold
moved on
the
creation.
which
before,'
face of the waters then served to connect the
Messiah with the
first
man, whose appearance
is
elsewhere described as like a second angel in an
honourable, great and glorious way.
was part
of ancient tradition
Moreover,
persons should appear on earth as men. tion
suffered
from
no
it
that superhuman
scientific
Imagina-
restraint
in
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
124
conceiving such transformations.
When
Gabriel
brought to Mary the great announcement of her future motherhood, he doubtless laid aside his
heavenly glory, just as
in the Christian portion
of the Ascension of Isaiah the after
Lord
instructed
is
quitting the sixth heaven to assume the
likeness of the angels of each successively lower
region
he reaches the angels of the
till
air,
and
thus passes to earth to become incarnate without attracting any notice.
Popular anticipation
looked for a Messiah from the Davidic then, '
were
descent,'
theology. his
home
all
the elements for a doctrine of
resembling
the
Just as the future in the
woman upon
Here,
line.
avataras
of
Indian
Buddha would
leave
Tusita heaven to be born of a
earth
'
for the good, the gain,
and
the welfare of gods and men,' so must the Messiahto-be quit the scene of supernal glory to enter
the ranks of deliverer
of
humanity
Israel,
so
as
to
become the
and return to the
celestial
sphere to accomplish the victory over the powers of evil. all
The elements
prepared.
of a Christology
They needed only a
to which they could be attached.
were thus
personality
THE
'
'
SON OF GOD
125
(ii)
The public ministry ated in
though
of Jesus,
it
cuhnin-
his appearance at Jerusalem as the Messiah,
afforded no opportunity at
first
of interpreting
his career in connexion with these exalted characters.
But the conviction
of the disciples that
death could not hold him, and that he had been exalted to the seat at God's right
hand
provided an adequate occasion.
To
{Ps. ex. i),
Peter
this
appeals on the day of Pentecost to support his declaration that
and Christ
Romans
'
God hath made him both Lord
{Acts
'
ii.
36)
;
while Paul
tells
that while he was of the seed of
according to the
God by the
flesh,
the
David
he was defined as Son of
resurrection {Rom.
i.
4).
There was the
proof of what constituted for Paul one of the chief features of his Gospel, namely, that
judge the world through him {Rom. in
ii.
God would
16).
Steeped
contemporary eschatology, the apostle had
already,
own
no doubt, before
ideas of
class, in
not wholly
ancient
who shared
conversion,
what the Messiah would
scope and application of are, indeed,
his
the term
clear.
Hebrew
'
be.
his
The
son of God
It is the
name
'
of a
poetry, the angel-powers
in creation's joy {Job xxxviii. 7).
It is
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
126
part of the prophetic promise to the Davidic king, '
will
I
(2
Sam.
my
be his father, and he shall be vii. 14).
It is the dignity of
son
the Anointed
(Messiah), newly enthroned upon the holy *
Thou
thee
'
art {Ps,
my ii.
son,
day have
this
When
7).
the
'
hill,
begotten
I
high-priest
will
extort from his prisoner a confession which will secure sentence of death, he asks
the son of the Blessed
?
him
{Mark
'
'
xiv.
Art thou 61).
In
endeavouring to determine when this function began, one line of Christian tradition fixed on the
baptism as the moment when Jesus was invested
The well-known reading
with this dignity. the
Cambridge
Codex
D,
heavenly utterance {Luke '
Thou
art
my son,
I this
which
iii.
reports
22) in the
day have begotten
of
the
words thee,'
points to the early identification of Jesus with
the Messianic figure of the second Psalm
the apostle Paul
same passage
;
while
related to have applied the
is
to the resurrection in his address
at Antioch in Pisidia
{Ads
xiii. 33).
But the student of the PauUne letters soon discovers that this
title
has for their author a
higher meaning than that of theocratic dignity.
It
official
rank and
was not an honour con-
THE CHRIST OF PAUL f erred
by
by a kind
of adoption,
127
belonged to him
it
WTien he entered the earthly scene
nature.
he was already in a special manner God's son (Rom.
viii.
32).
own
'
'
Vague and undetermined,
indeed, are the apostle's references to the pre-
human
condition of the Messiah.
have belonged to the world above he preceded creation agent of
its
itself,
production
(i
Cor.
celestial
appears to
in
some sense
was the actual
viii.
was nevertheless man, the man
who had
;
since he
He
'
But he
6).
from heaven,'^
quitted the glory and liberty of his state to
wear the humanity of David's
and submit himself to the bondage
line
Jewish law
{Phil.
ii.
6ff.).
That which
of the
the
filled
apostle with wonder and adoring passion was the
thought that this being, once radiant in
condescended to die upon the of the
light,
cross.
had
The love
Father in sending forth his Son, and the
love of the Son in thus giving himself for
awoke an enthusiastic devotion which
man,
carried
the great missionary through every peril from
Damascus 1
1
to
Rome.
Cor. XV. 47.
of ]Man,'
The splendour surrendered
Paul does not actually use the
but his allusion to Ps.
he was well acquainted with
viii.
it.
in
i
Cor. xv. 27
title
'
Son
shows that
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
128
by descending
when God, him
was resumed
into our mortality
after his obedience to death, exalted
to place and power above every name.
It
would seem, however, that the function to which he was thus elevated, that of
'
Lord,' implying his
sovereignty over the whole of creation, carried
with
it
a rank which he had not possessed before.
The conception was derived from
Ps. ex. i (origin-
ally composed, according to a widely received view,
in
honour
143-135
of the
B.C.),
Asmonean
The
title
priest-prince Simon,
was frequently used
the language of the Greek and oriental cults. ^
was the name '
lordships
'
It
of a special class of angels, the
(R.V., dominions) of Col.
the Secrets of Enoch, xx.
i.
When
affirms that while there are gods
many,
in
Christians recognize
i.
16 and
Paul, therefore,
many and
lords
only one God, the
Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ
(i Cor. viii. 6),
he at once draws a distinction between their respective spheres of being, power,
and agency,
while he also raises the exalted Messiah above
every other superhuman rank.
That
is
the honour
earned by his submission to the Father's purpose. 1
For example, of Apollo, Asklepios, Serapis, Zeus, and
many
another, in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece.
';
THE CHRIST OF PAUL It
is,
supreme term
therefore, the
confession {Rom. x.
the Son
God
'),
of the disciple's
which does not consist
9),
in declaring that he is
I29
Son
of
God
(still less,
but in accepting him as Lord.
the Father
'
and
'
'
'
God One
one Lord Jesus Christ
are thus the earliest terms of the Pauline creed,
the
being further defined as the
first
second {Eph.
i.
God
of the
17).
The post-human
Hfe of the Messiah
was thus
of far higher significance for the Apostle than his
In
pre-natal
existence.
headships,
woman, man,
the strange
Christ,
God
series
of
(i Cor. xi. 3),
Christ occupies an intermediary place between the
mortals of earth and the Creator.
nexion with the Church he figures,
now
as the body,
is
But
in con-
presented in varying
now
as the head,
and
again, with one of the unexpected turns which put all
system-builders to rout, he
Spirit (2 Cor.
iii.
17).
is
identified with the
Language
is
strained to the
uttermost to express the intimacy of the relation.
The
believer
is
in Christ,
and he
is
also in the Spirit
but the terms can be inverted, and Christ and the Spirit are each in the believer.
of gifts
and
graces,
and judge
So as the dispenser in the great assize
which closed the immediate prospect of the world's
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
130
history, his relations to
man
were
portance than those to nature.
Son
or the
of
Man
If,
bring creation into being, as
should be in some
way
of
all
But
things tend and in which
even death
and the
faithful
is
God was
as
the
and the source
of all
all shall at
When
length
fulfil
in the last great
has been brought to
itself
naught, and the victory of the Son will resign the
he should
the goal to which
existence,
all creation, so likewise he
their Maker's purpose.
Man
associated with him. in
sovereignty and judgment.
he
he
and helped to
stars,
Son
also subject all the hostile powers,
eonjQict
Hke Wisdom,
in the Enoch-Similitudes,
had existed before sun and
ultimate fount of
more im-
of
is
complete,
powers entrusted to him, give
back the authority by which he reigned, and submit himself beneath the Father's
God may be
all in all (i
is
supreme. 1
In the world
Cor. xv. 28).
of the redeemed his task
is
over,
rule, that
and the Father
'^
In the face of these and other facts
It
seems impossible
to believe that the apostle could have intended to identify
the Messiah with
'
God
he elsewhere applies
blessed for ever' (Rom.
this adjective only to
Father of the (our) Lord Jesus
Eph.
i.
3),
(Christ)
and to the Creator {Rom.
i.
'
'
(2 Cor.
25), I
As 5). God and
ix.
the i.
3, xi.
31
;
cannot think that
THE DIVINE KING
I3I
(iii)
Among
the different elements of the apostle's
conception of Jesus two aspects were destined to important developments.
As
Christ or Messiah
he had the function of king and judge.
image
God, the instrument of creation, the
of
principle in
which
dential guide
things subsist, the provi-
all
Israel
of
phases of history, he divine
As the
is
through the successive the embodiment of the
Wisdom and Power.
These were in truth
the attributes both of his royal and of his cosmic state
;
and they bring him very
Hellenistic
Logos,
intermediary
close
to the
between
the
Eternal Father and the world of our experience. in
he departs from his usual practice.
this passage
More
than half a century ago Prof. Jowett pointed out that as the apostle nowhere else calls Jesus
God
it is
that he did so in this solitary passage.
extremely unlikely
Had
he so regarded
him, he would have used the designation more frequently.
The statement
of Col.
i.
expressly called
pre-human
state,
'
was pleased to him with Deity, as he Is
19 that the Fulness
dwell in the Son, cannot identify
the fixst-bom of creation.' therefore,
Even
In his
he belonged to the order of
created beings, preceding the rest of the powers and objects of the world.
How
this description of his incarnate life Is
to be reconciled with the theories of Kenosis, or the voluntary
relinquishment of his omniscience and omnipotence (see chap. IV,
§§ V. vi.), is
not
clear.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
132
The
first
was naturally
characters
these
of
attached with special closeness to the apocalyptic
The
scheme. reign as
Son
typical presentment of the Messiah's
of
David {Psalms
of
Solomon,
xvii.)
does not transcend the limits of humanity, unless it
be in the statement that he will be pure from
But from ancient times mighty monarchs
sin.
had hedged the
divinity
The sovereigns
of the East.
of
Egypt claimed in their inscriptions direct generation from on high, and the whole process was exhibited
Ra-
with startling realism on their temple walls.
meses the Great before the days of Moses was
by
described
his
court-scribes as
giver of everlasting asserted,
"
'
'
life.'
have brought him up The goddesses said " He was leader of the
kingdom
am he who made him. For his sake the earth satisfied,
The
of Ra,^
The gods
(or
begotten him)."
bom
Ra."
of us to be the
Amon^
said " I
I
seated truth in her place.
is
established, the heavens
visible solar orb.
life,
The
like
Ra."
his father
syllable
mes means
The great hidden God of Thebes. Ennan, Life in Ancient Egypt (1894), p.
'
2
3
said
the gods contented, Rameses the daily
giver of everlasting 1
of
Son
Heaven,' they boldly
rejoiced at his birth.
We
'
57.
son.'
'*
— THE DIVINE KING
The language different style,
his
Babylonia
was
couched
in
but implicitly contained a cognate
Sargon prefixes the sign of deity to his
idea.
name
of
133
;
Naramsin
inscriptions
'
is
God
repeatedly
designated
This
Akkad.'
of
in
not
is
identical with the innate deity of the Pharaohs, it
is
It is
the
expression
universal sovereignty,*
of
even possible that the address to the sovereign
in the
wedding hymn, Ps.
O God
(Hebrew Elohim),
to
is
xlv.
is for
—
'
Thy
throne,
ever and ever
'
be explained from similar court-homage.
After the days of Alexander the Great Hke titles are
Demetrius and
grateful
early as 307 B.C.,
who hberated
his father Antigonus,
Athens from the tyranny
by
As
employed by Greeks.
of Cassander,
as
citizens
'
saviour
were hailed gods,'
and
Demetrius was provided with divine parentage through Poseidon and Aphrodite. *
In the S)n:ian
house of Seleucus, Antiochus took the
Theos
(god),
Epiphanes, 1
*
and
his
son
god manifest.'
added
On
Meyer, Gesch. des AUerthums, 2nd
the
title
of
epithet
the Rosetta stone ed.,
1909 (2nd part),
p. 478. 3
See the contemporary
hymn
History of the Kingship, p. 146.
translated
by
Frazer, Early
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
134
Ptolemy V, 205 acter '
he
;
living
nated *
is,
claims the same divine char-
B.C.,
moreover,
image of Zeus.' *
god
common
manifest
language of the
Julius Caesar
cities of
was
desig-
and the
Ephesus,
at
'
human
saviour of
and the
eternal-lived,'
'
The exalted
life.'
Asia Minor concerning
the Emperor Augustus has been already quoted.^
Was
it
surprising
should be early
that a tale
circulated describing a prodigy before his birth,
which was understood to portend that Nature
would bring forth a king
The
related,
'
Roman
?
Marathus
freedman
his
people
promptly issued a decree enjoining the
slaughter of also,
senate,
terrified
for the
children born that year
all
were applied the
titles
'
lord,'
'
!
To him,
saviour,'
and
son of God,' and the day of his birth was the
beginning
of
'
good tidings
'
(gospels)
for
the
world.
A
whole religious vocabulary was thus in exist-
ence to describe the prerogatives of sovereignty,
and the Christian naturally applied sublime kingship of the Messiah.
head
of the
citizenship
of
its
terms to the
He was
the saints, and the
attributes of empire all belonged to him. 1
the
Ante, p. 46.
This
is
THE DIVINE KING accordingly one
Apocalypse.
of
Fierce
expresses against
of
the
the wrath which this book
Rome, her
Strange
persecutions.
leading themes
the is
135
idolatries,
and her
contrast
between
the
is
the picture drawn by historians at the end of the first
century of our era, and that sketched by the
seer of Revelation.
On
the one
hand Rome
is
the author of peace from the Persian Gulf to the
from the cataracts
Atlantic,
Tyne.
She
is
of the Nile to the
the giver of equal laws, the guardian
of civic welfare, the
promoter of education, the
nurse of commerce, the protector of trade, the
patron of the
arts.
But the Christian prophet Of what use are
cares for none of these things.
the
great
roads
empire together
and
;
that of
knit
what use the safety
which no pirate can touch
argosies
use the wealth gathered from of
what use the
prophets,
saints
;
avert
ancient
;
of fleets
of
what
parts of the earth
whom
;
she has
is
the persecutor
reeks with the
blood of the
:
she
the unhallowed worship of her emperor
identifies her
can
she
all
tributes of kings
dragged into her harlotries of
peoples of the
the
power with Satan's, and nothing
her
doom.
Babylonian
Using
mythology
the in
symbols
which
of
the
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
136
dragon of the deep was overcome by the might of the god of Ught, strangely
confused
depicts
scenes,
the
the
m
seer,
and
a succession of
frequently
overthrow of
empire the world had known.
waged partly on
of evil,
conquering
But when
appointed on this cosmic
must be conceived
than the
scale,
As he
war he bears upon
of lords
rides forth
{Rev. xix.
'
dead, yet he
now
himself as the
up
(xxii.
in
13),
The elevation and
it
is
name
is
'
King
as
less
if
last,
all
So he or
'
is
more
the root
*
his cloak
of kings
and on
and Lord
And though he was
16).
and
lie
task was
on his white horse
lives for ever,
first
him no
(xix. 13)
world
the person of the
Judah
of David.'
his thigh the august title
his
to match.
lion of the tribe of
'
to the holy
end
struggle is
in the
The victory must
Christ.
with God's Messiah.
victor
The
On one side are arrayed the whole forces human and diaboHc. On the other is
above.
the
the greatest
and partly
earth,
incoherent
and can describe
the beginning and the
summed
existence were
than in the Almighty himself.
of the divine king can go
no further
;
not without surprise that we also read
—
is it
a later editorial gloss
called the
Word
of God.'
?
—
'
And
his
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
137
(iv) '
Word and the Word Word was God.'^
In the beginning was the
was with God, and the
;
So runs the solemn opening of the Fourth
WTien Christianity was carried by the
Gospel.
apostle Paul
and the
band
earliest
of Christian
missionaries to city after city round the Mediter-
ranean, they found hearers
among
the thoughtful
and educated Greek-speaking people who had been attracted to Judaism by
monotheistic
its
doctrine and simple unsacrificial worship.
They
were described in early Christian literature as the 'God-fearers.'
Great
Alexandria,
cities like
Tarsus, Ephesus, were the meeting-places of
kinds
beHefs,
of
and centres
of
Community
philosophical culture.
religious of
all
and
government,
the spread of the Greek language, commercial intercourse, facilities of travel, helped to diffuse
new
ideas
and
;
it
soon became necessary for the
Church, in addressing thought, to 1
tell
to fresh
itself
the story of
The English language here
its
falls
modes
Founder in
to
different
convey the distinction
of the Greek between the intimate relation of the '
towards
the
than divine.
God,' and
its
own nature
of
as God,
i.e.
httle
Word more
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
138
terms from those of primitive Palestinian tradition.
To minds
trained in the Hellenic view of the order
of nature, the in
which the
set,
was not
framework
life
congenial.
to reinterpret
its
Jewish eschatology
of
and teaching It
of Jesus
was needful,
main conceptions
;
Paul, he
therefore,
to another
This was the work accomp-
by the Fourth Evangelist.
Peter, Jesus
was the Messiah
was the Son
of
;
For him, as
But
God.
It
for
for him, as for this
august
character did not wait for definitive proof the resurrection.
first
and provide
them with forms which would appeal type of experience. lished
were
till
must have been continually
manifested in word and deed throughout the
months and years from the to the cross.
Baptist's testimony
Paul had presented a figure which
involved the descent of a heavenly being to earth,
though that mysterious personality was a
Man. so
But
little
of his
human
life
occasion to write, that
the Apostle found it
has been actually
doubted whether he knew anything its
close.
At any
celestial
of it before
rate he never undertook the
formal task of picturing his ministry.
Christ
sent him, he might have said, in the language of
a later day, not to write a gospel but to preach
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
Even the author
the gospel.
Hebrews was content to
set
139
of the Epistle to the
two aspects
side by-
side in impressive contrast, without attempting
to
combine them,
reconcile or
—the
divine Son,
the express image of God's person,
by
creation
power,
of
and the
who learned obedience, who was by suffering, and only through and tears won his way to self-
historic Jesus
made
utterance
his
sustaining
perfect
strong crying
surrender and to victory.
The Fourth Evangelist,
however, boldly essayed the task, and for the benefit of his readers defined his purpose as he
ended,
*
believe
These things are written that ye that
Jesus
is
the
Christ,
mind
is
Son
idea,
of God,'
The problem 1
John XX.
It is
3
1
is
.
then,
is
the
writer's
real function of
to reveal the Father.
to adapt the Synoptic tradition,
The
last
chapter
of the Evangelist or
is
an appendix, whether
by another
is still
disputed.
not necessary any longer to argue that whoever the
Evangelist
may have
been and whatever sources he
had besides the Synoptic narratives,
what
in
and the
the Christ in that character
by the hand
Ufe in
^
The determining '
Son of
the
may have
God, and that, believing, ye his name.'
may
is
may have
his presentation includes
conveniently called a very large
'
subjective element.'
'
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
140
from which the author conception of
On
the one
frankly describes himself as
you the truth which
told (viii.
He comes
40).
paternity of Joseph
the objection
is
of David's seed is
is
But
gospels.
a
man
that hath
heard from God
emphasized
and the
;
\Vhen
(vi. 42).
raised that the Messiah should be
and spring from David's home,
the
or
I
hand Jesus
out of Nazareth
noteworthy that there
genealogies
'
advanced
to the
starts,
the Son.'
'
this
is
it
no reference to the
birth-stories
earUer
the
in
not due to the emphasis on
is
birth from above, or birth out of God, for this
not inconsistent with
human
is
parentage, any more
than origin out of the devil in the case of the opposing Jews. of a
man, and
Jesus shares the bodily needs
in contrast
that he had only worn a laid
upon
the
stress is
his incidental weariness, his thirst, his
He
tears.
with the heretical view
phantom form
bodily
possesses the
frame,
life
which
and which
out of
rises
(like
the
good
shepherd for his sheep) he lays down for his friends (x. 11, xv. 13).
has
its
This same
life
higher conscious aspects, and in the con-
templation of death can be distraught *
soul
^
(psyche)
= psyche), yet he cannot
pray,
(xii.
27,
hke the
THE FOURTH GOSPEL S5nioptic Jesus,
'
not
my
will,
for he has strictly speaking
I4I
but thine be done,'
no
own
will of his
will
;
he can do nothing
of himself
instrument of the Father V.
19, viii, 28)
who has
a conflict
;
is
he
;
is
but the
him
sent
(vi.
impossible,
'
always the things that are pleasing to him 29).
any meaning, and
and the anguish
Gethsemane
of
is
is
I
of untrained servants,
dropped
of discipUned soldiers
upon the ground. suffers,
—and
them
flings
he
yields
(Pneuma, cp. Matt, xxvii. 50
Here are once more the
up
Luke
;
—no
cohort
mass
in a
Yet upon the cross he
and at death
;
by a
replaced
Roman
but a
do
of his
serene m-ajesty which overawes his captors
mob
38,
(viii.
'
So the temptation at the opening
career has no longer
:
own
he has not descended from heaven to do his
his
really spirit
xxiii. 46).
characteristics of a
human
person, too firmly lodged in tradition to be ignored.
But on the other hand these are blended with others which point clearly to a heavenly origin
and constitution. preter's
task,
no
Difficult, less
indeed,
than the
is
the inter-
writer's.
His
phrases, couched in the utmost simplicity of words,
seem alternately
to
expand and
carry a range of meanings which
contract, it is
and
never easy
142
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
to define.
On
the side of Christian experience a
series of parallels
and the teacher
drawn between the
is
in the
two cognate works, the
The
Gospel and the First Letter. less
than the Messiah himself,
He, too, cannot
sin (i
passed from death to
disciple
John life
is
bom
no
out of God.
9).
He, too, has
14).
He, too, can
iii.
(iii.
believer,
down his life for the brethren (iii, 16). He, too, has overcome the Evil One (ii. 13), and when his Lord is in the heavenly home he does even greater lay
works
in
opening blind eyes to the truth, and
raising the
dead out of trespasses and
xiv.
But
12).
this,
equality of being.
after
all,
sins {John
no
implies
real
For the Son has descended
from the celestial splendour which he shared with the Father ere the world was made.
was not indeed absolute
His being
or self-existent,
bestowed upon him by the Father, and
is
it
was
appar-
ently identified in one passage with the precosmic
Son
of
Man
(vi.
62) of earlier speculation.
But
that was in the timeless depths of eternity, so that
presented in contrast to the historic process
he
is
of
Abraham's birth as the continuous
(viii.
58).
lived as
'
I
am
'
There in the supersensual world he spirit
Hke God
himself,
participating
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
I43
in the Father's life of ceaseless activity
and
love.
In this august self-communication to the Son there
was no reserve
empowered
make
to
so also
symbol
a
fuU
and works.
Father's words light,
the Son was consequently
;
the Son
is
Son
of truth, the
disclosure
the
of
As the Father
;
and, as light
is
also the truth.
is
is
the
The
substance of his utterance has been heard from the Father
taught
:
(viii.
he can only speak what he has been 28),
and
this teaching is a constant
inflow from a divine source. as the Father's declares
is
word
not his
thus portrayed
is
(logos),
own
even described
It is
which Jesus expressly
The Sonship
(xiv. 24).
The Fourth
unique in kind.
Evangelist does not use the Synoptic expressions
such as shall
blessed are the peacemakers, for they
'
be called sons of God,'
your Father which
of
not yet found of Christ
will allow
1
that ye
may
in heaven.'
necessary to
mark
off
be sons
Paul had the sonship
from that of the believer led by the
God (Rom.
of
it
is
'
viii. 14).
no such
spirit
But the Fourth Evangelist
parallel with the Only-begotten,^
This was also a term of the earUer Orphic theology.
was applied (the Maid),
to the deity of mysteries,
and
also to
especially to
Demeter, Athena, and Hekatg.
It
Kore
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
144
and
to
applies
designation
'
and the Son
is
the
disciple
the
For the union
child.'
intimate
less
of the
Father
so close that they are but one (x. 30),
where our language
to convey the distinction
fails
the Greek) between the masculine of person-
(in
ality
and the impersonal neuter.
Is this
union conceived as simply moral, arising
out of harmony of
will,
or has
or metaphysical quality
it
any transcendental
many
Like so
?
other
questions concerning the Fourth Gospel, this
more
easily asked
On
than answered.
side are those lofty assurances that the
knows the Father, and
know God.
The
intimate that each
no
secrets
so to
relation is
know
is
the one
Son alone
Christ
between them
is is
to
so
in the other, the Father has
from the Son, and the Son can do and
say nothing of himself.
Their reciprocal know-
ledge and mutual inherence seem only expUcable
through some community of nature Son, though he
life.
and the
expressly affirms the superior
greatness of the Father (xiv. 28), less in
;
some high sense a partner
is
neverthe-
in the divine
But on the other hand the unity
behevers
is
expressed
in
similar
terms.
of the
Not
only are they to be one with each other, they
THE FOURTH GOSPEL are
Son
God
;
be
to
also
one
and
in Christ,
mediated through the Son
and the
Christ in the disciples,
though the inherence
as
Father
the
in
I45
Father were
the
of
(xiv. 20, xvii. 11, 21-23).
Yet, once more, the transcendence of the Son
is
implied at the close of this prayer of consecration, for
though the Father's love
his obedience,
order,
is
conditioned by
really belongs to the timeless
and began before the foundation
of the
Manifold, indeed, are the contradictions
world.
which
it
result
scale of
from the attempt to picture on the
humanity a being who was
intrinsically
divine.
These incongruities are in no way relieved by the philosophical conception which the author calls to his aid in
the Logos or
The doctrine
of
a long history behind
it,
the prologue.
Word had
and from the days
of Heraclitus of
Ephesus in
had played a part
the sixth century b.c.^
it
various Greek Schools.
Founding himself partly
in
on Plato and partly on the
Stoics, Philo of Alex-
andria had employed
means
the
ancient
culture.
it
Hebrew
The
as a
scriptures
and
prophets 1
Known
as
'
for reconciling
with
singers
Hellenic of
the Obscure,'
K
Israel
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
146
had never speculated on metaphysical problems* Their conception of creation rested on the image
God said, Let there be light, He spake and it was done.' was light.'
of divine power.
and there
'
'
Further back than speech they did not go in the Utterance
analysis of God's productive might. for
them was
But the
creation.
reflective
Greek
enquired what lay behind speech, and the reply
immediately was
who makes a shape and
The
'
thought.'
table
Even the carpenter
must have some idea
size, its height, its surface,
sculptor
who
must
first
its legs.
Athena from the
released an
marble in which she lay embedded free,
and
of its
till
he
set her
have seen with the mind's eye her
imprisoned form.
In laying out a
Philo, the architect does not proceed
city,
argued
haphazard
he has a plan which shows already the
;
sites of
market-place and quay, temple and senate-house.
Even
so in bringing a universe into being the Deity
must have conceived
it
first
as an intellectual
whole, whose ordered parts constituted a mighty
sum
of inter-connected thoughts.
Philo gave the
A long series What was
name
of Logos,
To
this totality
Reason or Word.
of problems was immediately started.
the relation of this Logos to
God on
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
I47
the one hand, and on the other to the kinds or
types of classes in which the objects of nature
might be arranged reflected
on the
?
rise
who has
ever
of a design, the poet
who
how
feel-
The
artist
has watched the birth of song, knows ings are
wedded with
ideas,
shape within the mind
till
and gradually take that which was in-
and the inner
articulate has gained expression,
In the mind
impulse has received outward form.
of God, where Philo, greatly daring, strove to
picture a like process on the scale of creation,
there thus arose a thought which comprehended all
possible dependent being.
It
contained within
itself implicitly a miniature of the entire world, or
rather, since space dimensions could not properly
be ascribed to ideas,
it
provided the intellectual
forms which manifested themselves in the genera
and
species of the
heaven and earth we know.
The Logos thus embraced of
visible
things,
all
on which
it
impressed their
proper characters, marking them other,
and processes
parts
off
from each
and at the same time uniting them together
in the reasoned order of the whole.
It
was thus
the agent in the production of sun and star, of earth and sea, and every living thing, and served
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
148
as mediator between the
One fount
of existence
raised in sublime immutability above
all
change,
and the growth and decay which make
Generated within
vicissitudes of our experience.
the Infinite and
second God,' or in distinction
mode
Eternal,
it
God not
'
from the
of its conception
might be called
the
'
first-bom
'
or
'
no mortal tongue could
tell,
might be termed
eldest son of God.'
The Logos which appeared as the intellectual
Of the
God.
real or true
it
the
'
proper sense,'
in the
but as the offspring of Deity
the
in the visible scene
bond knitting
created things
all
into one whole of thought, might enter likewise into
relations
Abraham in
with humanity.
It
appeared
in
as the representative of divine wisdom,
Moses as the prophet, in Aaron as the high-
priest.
The
patriarchal
Genesis
were
thus
histories
resolved
into a series of allegories
in
related
Philo's
and types.
of our world of sense.
was the symbolism
hands
The
world was above, where dwelt the ideal
in
real
realities
Noteworthy, for instance,
of the high-priest's robes in
connexion with the service of the tabernacle, of
which Moses had beheld the pattern on the mount.
The dwelling prepared
for the Father
and Ruler
THE FOURTH GOSPEL must typify
of the world
ments the universe
I49
in its parts
and arrange-
So the seven-branched
itself.
candlestick represented the seven heavens of the
sun, moon,
and
incense was the
five planets,
emblem
while the altar of
of the earth.
The robes
of the high-priest received a similar interpretation,
with the remarkable explanation
he enters the temple to sacrifices in use
may
among
offer
Fanciful,
of
it
world
him by means
of the
which he
fire
bears
feet typified the
the flowery hem, the earth
;
;
about him.'^
were the identifications.
indeed,
vestment reaching to the air
that whenever
up the prayers and
his nation, all the
likewise enter in with
imitation
'
;
The
ambient
the scarlet dye,
the twelve stones upon the breast, the Logos
which holds together and regulates the universe.
So garbed, the high-priest would be reminded to
make
his
life
worthy
of the world,
and the whole
world would co-operate with him in the sacred rite,
and the Son
the world) would thus
(i.e.,
be brought to the service of his Begetter, and in the exalted character of the Paraclete or Advocate 1
Life of Moses,
iii.
§
14
;
On
the
Monarchy,
ii § 5-6.
Com-
pare the identification of the great high-priest with the Logos in the
book
of
The Migration
of
Abraham,
§ 18.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
150 (R.V.,
'
Comforter,' John xiv. i6, i John
would even make abundance language
this
lie
In such
God, to Jesus
and a
;
of things,
vital expression of the Father's
however,
Philo,
teacher of the
first
as
living person, rather
an interconnected scheme
of
The Evangelist
them from the world, conceived
transfers
i)
and
sins
anticipations
divers
the ideas of the Fourth Gospel.
of
of
given blessings.
freely
of
as
for forgiveness
ii.
Son than
becomes the
Mind.
was not the only
religious
century of our era
who em-
ployed the conception of the Logos to express the process
of
literature
God's
revelation
of
man.
In
the
which has come down to us from the
later stages of Gentile series of
to
mysticism there
is
a strange
books grouped under the general name
Hermes the Thrice-Great.
The Greek Hermes
was the accepted representative
of the
Egyptian
in
many ways
transcended his Greek equivalent.
For Thoth
Thoth, though the
became one higher
of the
Egyptian
latter
deity
most interesting theology.
figures in the
He was
the
im-
personation of law in both the physical and moral worlds.
In his latter capacity he acted as the
recording scribe at the weighing of the soul after
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
15I
Two Truths.
He possessed
death in the Hall of the
the knowledge of divine speech, and was the god of
Reason and Revelation. heaven and earth
forces of
was the representative
society,
in
which
righteous order.
in equilibrium
Mind
was
intelligence
It is possible
may have
;
he
in all
of the institutions of
with
allied
that some of the
Hermetic
elements prominent in the
mystical
books
kept the
will
of the hidden
and the guardian
things,
His
been derived from Egyptian
teaching in which Thoth was thus a prominent Here, at any rate, are the same antitheses
figure.
between
light
meet us
in the
around the
and darkness,
life
Fourth Gospel.
figure of
are grouped
as the type of the
representations of
In the Poimandres or
of Men,' assigned first
They
Hermes, who, with lamb or
ram upon his shoulders, served Good Shepherd for the earliest Christian art.
and death, which
by Reitzenstein
Shepherd
'
to the end of the
century of our era, but believed to be entirely
independent of Christian influence, phrase after phrase recalls the language of the Fourth Gospel. Consider such words of prayer as these ^ art thou, 1
O
God, father of the ^miverse
Poimandres,
§ 31,
trans,
by Mr. G. R.
S.
' :
!
Holy Holy
Mead.
;
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
152 art thou
Holy
whose
art thou
known by
who
Holy
thine own.
Empower me and
its
own
powers.
be known, and art
wiliest to
by the Word make
may
by
will is perfected
thou who didst
art
to consist all things that are.
fiU
enlighten those
me
who
origin,
my
believe
and bear witness,
with this grace, that
are in ignorance of their
brethren and thy sons, wherefore I
Here are traces
I
go to
mode
of a
was probably widely spread
Some
Asia Minor.
life
and
light.'
of thought
in
which
Egypt, Syria, and
of the language in the recently
discovered Odes of Solomon seems to approach e.g. in xii. is
ii,
man, and
'
the dwelling-place of the
its
truth
employs
Evangelist Christian
truth.
how
the
far
It
may
author
of
Jesus.
expression
the
for
it
indeed
intended
it
be
to
with
flesh
passes from the scene. it
in
own frame. Jews who have not
as the occupant of his
indeed rebuke the dwelling in
them {John
viii.
37)
;
the
a solemn
Christ
Jesus never
the
of
parallel to the story of the creation, the
has no sooner become
of
doubted
be
conception
Introduced
it
Word
The Fourth
love.'
is
determining element in the person
I
Logos
than refers
He his
it
to
does
Logos
just as the
;
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
153
author of the First Letter writes to the young
men
because they are strong, and God's Logos
them
abides in
John
(i
own Logos
of his
it
is
But
14).
ii.
divine nature, but to his teaching
norm or standard which day {John it
xii.
48)
;
shall judge
and
it
belongs to the Father
word
and
as the exalted use of
in the Gospel,
it
writer's view.
;
this
is
men at the last
sent
him
(xiv. 24).
would not seem
It is in fact
was the function
essential to the
wholly inconsistent
Fourth Evangelist as the the universe
is
'
is
described by the
Prince of this world.'
created and upheld
if
every
man coming
its light,
there
is
Logos,
no place
The
by the
into the world shares for the devil.
accordingly, never introduces Satan into life.
It
of the Messiah to vanquish the
Adversary or Opposer, who
if
;
does not reappear
it
with a very important feature in his scheme.
But
the
thus a term of marked elasticity
'
is
he speaks
not really his own,
is
who
The
'
if
not with reference to his
hostile Jews, however, in the
Gospel, are represented as his offspring
Philo,
human Fourth
(viii.
44)
they belong to the realm of darkness, falsehood,
and death.
immanence
What, then, of the
Logos
?
has
become
of
the
Once more, we are
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
154
confronted with different modes of thought.
The
dramatic conception of a conflict with the ruler of this world in foe,
is
which the Messiah vanquishes his
incongruous with the philosophy of the
Logos.
The world
of the
Jew could not be com-
bined with that of the Greek, and fresh proof
found that the introduction of the all
Word
is
is
after
subordinate and not essential in the writer's
thought. It
remains to ask
how was the Logos united with When the Word it also become Man ? The
the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
became
flesh,
question
is
did
beset
with
Evangelist describes
it
difficulty.
the
as knit in timeless fellow-
ship with God, does he conceive distinct personality,
When
or
is
it
it
in terms of
only the supreme
expression of the reason in creative thought, and
the energy in creative thinking, where thought is
action,
and thoughts become things
Philonic philosophy the Logos, as Dr.
has happily said, was It impresses itself
different
prophecy
human
'
?
In the
Drummond
personal, but not a person.'
with different characteristics on
representatives,
in another,
but there
wisdom is
in one,
no suggestion
of the presence of a transcendent personality in
THE FOURTH GOSPEL
Abraham '
When Wisdom
Moses.
or
tabernacle
embooked
so to speak,
and when the Word
was enfleshed
'
fixed
{Ecclus. xxiv. 8),
Jacob
in
'
155
law
in Israel's
tabernacled
in Jesus.
Did
this
it
its
was,
(ver. 23)
among
:
us,' it
mean more than
that the divine idea of truth and righteousness
and love
— of
in
human
that
God
character of
a
all
—was planted
to constitute the as a seed within
form, so that the growth of
wisdom should match the growth
of the other
divine hfe to
experience
;
men
and the union
in
which he lived with
of affection
however,
Church,
interpretation.
In the
saw a conscious though
separate
Father's love.
the Logos, the being.
It
'
and
This
of will.
of character.
adopted
a
contrary-
only begotten Son
dependent
'
it
dowered with a
personality,
existence
by
the
When this was identified with Word also attained this distinct
was no longer God's own Reason
acting within the Infinite into
in stature
within the limits of our moral
to explain the Sonship in terms
The
the one
In that case Jesus presented the
?
God was a harmony is
we imagine
Mind
;
it
was projected
the field of the external world, and was
finally concentrated into Christ.
This led to the
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
156
identification of the
Son with the Father
body
'
Evangehst
butes to him, as *
life,'
Did the divine
?
play the part of soul to a
'
The
?^
terms
But how and when did the Word
of substance.
unite with the flesh of Jesus
Logos only
in
and
psyche)
we have '
spirit
'
human
subsequently seen, both
'
attri-
soul
Were
(pneuma).
and Logos
indication
of
?
the
Surely there
is
life,
here another
connexion
imperfect
(or
there,
then, four constituents of his person, flesh, spirit,
*
of
the
Logos theory with the actual delineation of the person of Jesus on the basis of the Synoptic
Another exponent of the Logos philo-
tradition.
sophy, M^ho
made no
Justin the
Martyr, solved the problem in the
fashion of the
modern
three elements, body,
the term
'
spirit.'
thought and
will,
definite use of the Gospel,
by enumerating only
critic life,
and Logos, ^ omitting
The whole higher marked
off
activity of
by voluntary
control
from the ordinary experience or corporeal sense,
was assigned
to the divine visitant,
arily occupied the bodily frame.
reappeared again and again 1
So Dr. Martineau, Seat 2
in
who temporThe
the
difficult}'
course
of Authority, p. 427.
Second Apology,
x.
of
THE FOURTH GOSPEL subsequent speculation. that
It
systematic theology.
language of it
new form.
It
spoke the
not of psychology or of a creed.
religion,
may
not a work of
was an attempt to recast
It
a historic experience in a
But,
arose from the fact
Fourth Gospel was
the
I57
be urged, the Evangelist surely had
some conception
of the time
and mode
of the
His silence on the story of the
Incarnation.
birth of Jesus suggests that he did not imagine to
have been effected by a physical process
womb.
Virgin's of Jesus
On
in the
the other hand the ministry
was more than a
the Old Testament type,
solitary
theophany of
when Yahweh might
present himself at Abraham's tent-door in a specially
or
assumed
for the purpose, like
Brahma adopting temporarily
The body
of Jesus
it
a
body
Athena
human
form.
was no Docetic appearance
he teUs Pilate that he had been born
;
;
the refer-
ences to his mother and brothers clearly imply
that he had shared from the outset in the family
Was Mary,
life.
the
'
mother
at the
of
as later belief averred,
then,
God
'
?
And was
the unborn babe
same time maintaining the order
most ancient heavens inferences
of
?
theologians.
of the
Such have been the
But
it
would seem
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
158
He
that the Evangelist hints at another way.
shrank from presenting the Logos as subject to
human
development of
birth, or involved in the
That pre-natal union
child, youth, and man.
human was
the divine personality with the
consistent with the descent of the spirit
unction (i-
to
The
?
in-
by which
What
the Baptist recognized the Son of God.
need had the Incarnate Logos
of
heavenly
of that
ascription of this vision to
John
33> 34) suggests that the Evangelist intended
indicate
(by
a
the
to
reference
primitive
S5nioptic tradition) that the entry of the Spirit
into Jesus^
was the Hebrew equivalent
added that the
Spirit
'
The Baptist
Word.
Hellenic incarnation of the
abode
'
of the
upon him.
It is
the Johannine term of the closest spiritual fellowship
this
:
was the beginning
of
the life-long
presence of the heavenly Son in the person of the
Nazarene.
The theology
of the first half of the
second century affords more than one instance of failure to distinguish
constituting
Hermas 1
So
between Logos and
Son.
the
'
God,'
in the Shepherd,^ all
the best 2
modem
'
we
made
editors of
Similitudes, v,
5, 6.
Spirit as
told
are
by
the holy pre-
Mark
i.
10.
THE FOURTH GOSPEL existent
every creature to
created
that
spirit
I59
dwell in the flesh which he chose,' and a variant
adds the affirmation
of the text
holy
Spirit.'
Justin the Martyr,
'
the Son
is
the
who comes very
near to identifying the Word, the Son, and the Old
Testament Spirit
spirit of
and Power
than the
of
prophecy, declares that the
God {Luke
Word who
is
human
scene
Son
when Jesus
becomes the Messiah through the spirit
without measure {John
It is in virtue of this
can address him as
*
no other
35) are
God's first-born.^
interpretation be correct,^ the
enters the
i.
iii.
If this
of
God
of
Nazareth
gift
of
first
the
34) from above.
endowment that Thomas
my
Lord and
my
God.'^
(v)
Many were by the Logos tions
the problems which were started doctrine,
which were
offered.
1
First Apology, xxxiii.
2
So
apparently
modems 3
and various were the
Hermas
in
solu-
Their detailed display
the
and among
Shepherd,
Hilgenfeld and Jean Reville, Pfleiderer and Loisy.
It is a
contemporary contrast that the secretary of the
emperor Domitian wrote deus mens.'
in his master's
name
'
Dominus
et
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
l60
belongs to the history of the expanding Church.
Engaged during the second century for very
in
a struggle
Gnosticism, the Church
existence with
emerges triumphant with a sacred tradition, an episcopal
and a
a
authority,
rule of faith.
hereafter to bear the
no mention
scriptures,
But the creed which was
name
of the Apostles contains
Word.
of the
Only slowly,
of
collection
it
would seem, did the Fourth
Gospel acquire general recognition, and meantime the conception of the Logos might be applied in different
ways.
(born
Justin
Samaria, the ancient Shechem),
what philosophy had
Christianity
Neapolis
in
who found
in
at
failed to give
him, declared that Socrates was done to death for the
same cause as the
and actually
Christians, ^
designated Christ as the Socrates of barbarians.
The Word sent
forth as
God
out of
God
was, as
such, another or a second God, distinguished from
the
Deity.
absolute
speculation
So
indefinite
were
both
and language that the Logos might
be described indifferently as begotten or created,
and
called a
when our 1
'
work
'
or product.
A
four Gospels are firmly
Justin himself suffered
martyrdom
at
little later,
established,
Rome about
i6o a.d.
THE LOGOS CHRISTOLOGY
l6l
Irenaeus,
who had been
and had
listened to the saintly Polycarp in his
trained in Asia Minor
home which Rhone. Many of
youth, wrestles with heresy in the
he had found at Lyons on the his phrases '
show the germs
The Father
is
is
of future difficulties.
the invisible of the Son, the Son
the visible of the Father,' as though they had
no separate personality, but were only contrasted
modes
of the
When
same being.
Word and Wisdom
he pictures the
(or the Spirit) as the
two hands
of God, the figure implies instruments rather than
co-equal agents.
More
significant
still
was
his
endeavour to harmonize the representation of Jesus as tried and suffering with the continued presence and energy of the Logos.
must have
'
rested,''
The Word
he explained, or been quiescent
during the temptation and on the cross. fiery Tertullian (of Carthage),
constructed
his
Christology
dependence of the actual trine of one substance
into view, to express
crude
life
The
on the other hand, in
complete
of Jesus.
and three persons
in-
The docis
coming
and Tertullian coins the word Trinitas it.
form.
But
it is
Ratio,
presented in a surprisingly the
hidden
Reason,
Sermo, the uttered Word, both dwelt in
and
God who L
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
l62
The Father was the whole sub-
existed alone. stance,
and the
Son a portion
of
it,
Deity
adapted to the world, no longer inaccessible and incomprehensible, a ray from the sun, a stream
from the source, a stem from the root,
'
light out
From the human standpoint he was a from the Deity whom men could apprehend of light.'
;
divine he
was subordinate and even temporary.
For, in a formula which as a
watchword
tuUian affirmed that
was neither
'
into being
?
light.'
to
become famous
was a time when there
When,
Begun
make
forth
the Lord either
had the Son
then,
Tertullian
when the Word went be
there
nor Son to
sin
Judge or Father.'
come
was
of heresy a century later, Ter-
knew
and God
at the origin
the
said
of
'
moment, Let there
creation, his
work would be completed when death should be destroyed, and the
Son restored the
'
monarchy
'
to the Father.
The Logos-Christology, however, did not pass unchallenged.
There are traces of an obscure
sect,
once powerful, in Asia Minor, whose name Alogi implies their rejection of the whole scheme of Christian doctrine based of the
upon
it.
Their criticism
Fourth Gospel brought on them the charge
THE ADOPTIONIST CHRISTOLOGY of
'
word-hunting.'
marked
ences which
They pointed it off
to the differ-
from the other three,
altered order of events, its omission of
portant facts and
its
some im-
;
they contrasted
its
doc-
from above with Mark^s account of
the Jordan baptism.
Even
at
Rome, between the
years 211 and 217, the presbyter Gains,
Eusebius
historian
its
insertion of others inconsistent
with their predecessors trine of birth
163
describes
as
'
whom
learned
the
and
orthodox,' wrote a book in which he raised objec-
and the Apocalypse.
tions both to the Gospel
The type
of Christology
which was thus suggested
was widely spread through both East and West It exhibited
in the first half of the third century.
Jesus as a man, chosen by God, tested and found
worthy, and so
with power holiness he
'
'
anointed with holy Spirit and
at his baptism.
In virtue of his
was adopted by God as
his Son,
lived in the constant fulfilment of the will.
tionist
This conception (sometimes called ')
Hermas in the
'
Adop-
shines through the Shepherd ascribed to at
Rome, about 140
New Testament
discovered Sinai.
and
heavenly
It
a.d,, a
in the
work included
famous manuscript
by Constantine Tischendorf held
its
ground
for
at
Mount
more than a hun-
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
164
died years, having several important representatives in
Rome, and gave occasion
to the
famous
trial of Paul of Samosata in Syria in the year
Bishop
269 A.D.
of Antioch,
one of the greatest
the East, popular preacher, and withal
cities in
magistrate and city-treasurer, he combined the secular with the clerical
had been
truly
Jesus, he asserted,
life.
man, but the Logos had inspired
him from above and made him was
in Christ
Christian
'
what the apostle Paul
the inner man.'
which existed
of thought
in creation,
in
It
The Word
called in the
was the
principle
God, was manifested
and dwelt as a divine element
reason and the will of the union between
complete.
divine.
But
it
all
humanity.
in the
In Christ
God and man was morally
was a union not
of substance
but of disposition or character, through which
God
revealed himself for the salvation of the race.
Political
antagonism appears to have veiled
under theological
strife.
Paul was protected by
the powerful queen Zenobia, of Palmyra. of heresy
The
bishops,
Charges
were at length brought against him,
and a synod assembled him.
itself
citizens,
at
Antioch and condemned
however, defied the Syrian
and maintained him
for three years in
PAUL OF SAMOSATA his
Only the
chair.
Urged by
deposition.
Zenobia led to his
of
fall
1 65
his episcopal judges, the
emperor Aurelian deprived him
of his see,
announc-
ing that no one should be bishop in the city
who
was not
in accord with the bishops of Italy
and
Rome.
Paul went into
exile
which had found him guilty
;
but the council
of heresy also declared
that the Son was not homo-ousios
substance
'
—with
—
'
of the
same
the Father.
Other influences, howe^^er, were steadily driving Christian doctrine in that direction.
growth
of the
Church and
its
The constant
conquests in various
tended to enhance the greatness of
fields
founder and sophy,
its
possible
Lord.
The
influences
its
speculations of philoin
Alexandria
from
the theology of the Nile, the relative ease with
which Hellenic and Egyptian thought could admit doctrines of manifestation
and
find
Many issue.
the
—
some
all
links
may have
of
a hidden essence
between the One and the contributed to the great
The fundamental conception, common to
Jewish
Philo
and the Christian teachers
Clement and Origen,
was the simplicity and
changelessness of the ultimate being of God.
To
connect this with the manifold character of the
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
l66
world of our experience Philo had called in the help of the Logos.
Clement of Alexandria (about
200 A.D.) builds upon the same foundation, and with the broadest outlook over Greek culture
But
seeks to establish a philosophy of religion.
so nearly does he approach to the Gnostic view of the unreality of Christ's actual
humanity that
he supposes Jesus only to have taken food and drink
out
distinct
condescension
of
element and the
flesh cross.
however,
was,
theology
men
and
;
so
was the separation between the divine
no pain upon the It
to
that the
to
Origen^
Word
suffered
Christian
that
owed the most important formative
impulse for
its
development.
With vast
learning
and unwearied industry he devoted himself to Biblical study,
and
alike
to the elaboration of a far-
reaching scheme of doctrine which suppHed a basis for the later ecclesiastical dogmatics.
writings spread through a
life
In
of incessant activity
cannot be surprising that there should be
it
incongruities
1
Bom
and even contradictions.
And
there
185-6 A.D., he became in his eighteenth year the
acting head of the Christian school at Alexandria.
at Tyre, 253.
Died
ORIGEN were elements
167
which orthodoxy
his teaching
in
could not permanently tolerate, such as the preexistence
of
creatures
or
souls,
(including
heavenly fellowship.
the final reunion of
even
Devil)
the
in
all
the
But though these and other
pious opinions exposed his writings to mutilation
and
his
holds
memory
not
to condemnation, he nevertheless
only
the
leading
place
teachers of the third century, position
Church.
among
among
the
but a foremost
the creative minds of the whole
Deeply imbued with the Neoplatonic
conception of the immutability of God, he could
not admit philosophically that
have been without
his
God could
ever
Reason, or religiously that
the Father could ever have been without a Son.
That wisdom to which the Gospel had given the
name
Word, must have been ever with him.
of the
That there could ever have been a time when he did not possess his Son in the most intimate relationship,
was inconceivable.
begotten by no single act.
But the Son was
That would at once
have brought him into the realm
and assigned him
to a specific date.
wisdom must have been the divine
mind
;
of succession,
The divine
for ever arising within
the reason of
God must have
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
l68
been everlasting as his thought
was no soHtary
resolve,
ceased.
'
which produced
In other words
it
was the
it
result not of a particular
an eternal process
volition but of is
genera-
'
was perpetually renewed and never
tion it
but the
;
being was necessarily
rising within the Father's
partook of his immutability, and shared
He
his substance {homo-ousios).
begotten,
God.'
The Father
The Son thus ever
for ever begetting him.'
his image,
' :
'
is
always being
God
one Lord, one out of one,
As such he may be popularly
second God.
out of
called
a
This involved the strong affirma-
tion of the subordination of the
Son
and with
;
a breach of his fundamental conception Origen
can actually declare him
other
'
substance
in
than the Father,' and designate him as something created.
So hard
is
to
it
When
sistency at such lofty levels.
the
idea
of
incarnation, difficulty
of
the
divine
combining
Not only had he to
he carried
immutability into the
was inevitably
he
preserve con-
it
beset
translate
of eternity into that of time,
it
out of the order
and represent the
Logos as choosing the person of Jesus moral dignity
;
it
by the
with our experience.
was necessary
for his
also to save the
^
ORIGEN
Word from
divine
169
the mutations of sense.
minghng
the incarnation there was no
In
of qualities
;
the Logos could not feel hunger, or suffer the
Nor could
pangs of death.
be enclosed within
it
the body and soul of Jesus.
not contract
have acted with
all
itself
within a span.
freely everywhere,
souls
entrance.
The
Logos.
infinite
The Word must
and joined
in
union
of Christ involved the per-
human
will to cleave to the
God condescended
forth the nature of his being in a
man showed
could
opened themselves to his
that life
petual tension of his indwelling
The
that the
human
to
show
man, and a
spirit is
capable of
becoming entirely God's. Origen died a few years before the Syrian bishops
had
at the
same time condemned the bishop
of
Antioch and rejected the idea of the Homo-ousion.
But the impulse which he had given view
of the person of Christ
eternal generation of the
by
to the higher
his doctrine of the
Son, harmonized too
closely with the general tendency to exaltation
not to provide occasions for yet further advance.
Early in the fourth century a young scholar named Arius arrived in Alexandria from Antioch, and 1
Hamack,
History of Dogma, vol.
ii.,
p. 174.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
170
was appointed presbyter
He had been
one of the city parishes.
in
trained in the great Syrian school of
Scripture study, and had learned to rely on the
methods
grammar and
of
instead
history
of
Austere in personal habit,
allegory or tradition.
with the eloquence of an orator, and a pastor's devotion to the instruction of the ignorant, he
was already well known
in the city,
year 318, he ventured to delivered
by
when,
criticize
of clergy.
his bishop, Alexander, at a meeting
therefore, absolutely ;
God
;
He was not,
he was in some sense
he did not possess the same substance as
the eternal created,
an address
All Christendom, he argued, regarded
the Son as subordinate to the Father.
derived
in the
in other words,
;
he was something
and there was a time when he was not.^
Against this doctrine Alexander gathered his forces,
and
in 321
communicated.
Arius was deposed and ex-
Arius sought for support
his friends further east, arose.
The
situation
had only recently
among
and a violent controversy
was
critical.
Constantine
legalized Christianity
;
and the
Church, emerging from the terror and suffering of persecution,
was now threatened with 1
Cp. TertuUian, ante, p. 162.
divisions
ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS
I7I
which might react seriously upon the empire. Edicts imposing silence failed to hush the
and the Emperor took the bold step
of
strife,
summoning
the whole order of the bishops to a general council at
Nicsea,^ not far
Nicomedia.
from
own
his
residence at
was a notable assembly.
It
Three
hundred and eighteen bishops, with crowds attendant clergy, city in
made
way
their
answer to the imperial
from Persia and from Spain the North African
;
of
to the Bithynian
call.
They came
the Egyptian and
met the Greek and the Goth.
Alexander of course was present, and with him
was a young presbyter hardly five-and-twenty years of age (Arius was over
placed great reliance.
fifty),
on
whom
he
His name was Athanasius.
The Emperor himself opened the proceedings, but delegated the presidency to Bishop Hosius of
Cordova who had assisted him
in the preparations.
Stormy and vehement were the debates majority at
first
as the
accused Arius of innovation.
In
actual struggle documents were torn to pieces
;
and one aged bishop inflicted a blow upon a heretic's ear.
But
at length the forces of dissension
to wear away.
Conciliation 1
began
and compromise were
In Bithynia, Asia Minor.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
172
work.
set to
was known that the Emperor
It
expected a definite pronouncement, and that he
was not disposed
to overlook the insubordination
of Arius in challenging the doctrine of his bishop.
by
Little
over,
and when Hosius produced a
two refused to
won
the friends of Arius were
little
sign
it,
creed, only
while two more withheld
from the concluding anathema
their signatures
pronounced on those who held the Arian formulae '
there
was a time when the Son was
he was begotten he was not,' and out of nothing
'
not,'
before
'
he was
made
'^
The Nicene Creed was the
first
authoritative
declaration of faith sanctioned
by the representa-
tives of the entire Church.
was
It
built
upon the
terms of primitive Christian confession, one God
But
in
describing the second of these two persons
it
the Father,
summed up
and one Lord Jesus
movement
the
hundred years
of
Arius had treated
'
more than two
speculation since the Fourth
Gospel was composed. 1
of
Christ.
Without employing the
begotten
'
as equivalent to
'
created
and contended that as God could not communicate
his
essence to a creature, the Son could not possess the
substance as the Father, but was a separate being.
' ;
own same
THE NICENE CREED term Word,
it
adopted and elaborated the Evan-
conception of the Son of God, adding
gelist's
phrases such as
which
I73
far
'
outstrip,
contradict,
God
true
out of true God,'^
they do not positively
if
Here
Gospel language.
the
is
the
culmination of the long struggle with Judaism,
with Gnosticism, and with the religions of the
Empire.
Against the
first it
vindicated the exist-
ence at least of a dual relation within the Godhead,
an eternal Father and an eternal Son.^ the second
Against
enforced on the one hand the im-
it
mediate connexion of these two august persons,
and the
real
human
experience of the Son,
became not only
flesh
actual
and death.
suffering
who
but also man, exposed to
And
against
the
varied cults and philosophies which had fought for
supremacy over the Galilean,
the devotion of the Church to real source of the
1
Contrast John
true God, 2
xvii. 3,
Spirit,'
subject,
'
that they
whom
emphasized
Founder as the
power by which
and Jesus Christ
The concluding
Holy
its
it
it
had
may know
thou hast
at last
thee the only
sent.'
clause of the original creed,
'
And
in the
showed how vague was Church doctrine on the
and how indeterminate were the nature and function
of the Spirit in the Godhead.
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
174
captured spiritual
'
Be
his disciples,
the
If
(if
was
Emperor had once stood
did
the
demand
'
its
way was The
have conquered the world.'
in another sense)
as their
for
I
The
Rome.
of
had won
it
good courage,' he had said to
of
'
him
'
forces
energy by which
his gift.
promise
mighty
the
at last fulfilled.
to those beneath
Lord and God,' how much more
religious
consciousness
for its satisfaction a
of
still
Church
the
higher dignity
the Christ, the Son of God.'
From religion
another point of view Christianity was a Jesus had sought to
of reconciliation.
make men
feel
were sons
that they
God.
of
Athanasius, almost in the words of TertuUian in
an
earlier
day, afterwards declared that
became man
The
God.' in
in
realization of this
was accomplished
Athanasius might
Jesus.
God
man might become
order that
the person of
'
in-
deed almost completely' ignore the actual story.
But Arius with it
no
better.
human
all his historic
For he presented a figure without a
soul, inhabited
indeed possess
sense could interpret
by the Word which did
free will,
and was
in
some sense
susceptible of a development of moral
was
nevertheless
wholly
estranged
life,
from
but our
THE NICENE CREED experience.
I75
Jesus was neither man,
nor God,
but a being midway between the two.
The time-
measure which Arius appHed to demonstrate that there
was a period when God was not a
father,
had
no rehgious value, and only created a chasm between God and the world.
The doctrine
of
which Athanasius was to be the great exponent might involve contradictions even more glaring than those implicit
in
the Arian scheme.
contained the precious truth that
it
himself in man, and the
life
God
of religion
Vain
spiritual fellowship with him.
is
is it
But
reveals
a
life
of
to debate
what might have happened, had Arius triumphed at Nicaea.
It is
enough that the church main-
tained, even in a single isolated experience, the
sublime
humanity.
It
a union of
remains for
it
to
boundless future what
the
in
of
reality
God with our
throw open to it
all
has hitherto
believed to be the sole prerogative of Jesus Christ.
NOTE The
Biblical
argument concerning the person
of Jesus
has recently been stated with great force
by
Denney,
Prof.
1909.
The Rev.
in Jesus
C. F.
and
the Gospel,
3rd ed.,
NoUoth has endeavoured
THE THEOLOGICAL CHRIST
176
some aspects
of
modern
volume on The Person
of
our Lord and Recent
to deal with his
Thought,
1908.
position
is
Origines du
A
A
learned
presented
Dogme
convenient
by
Roman Prof.
criticism in
Catholic ex-
Lebreton,
Les
de la Trinite, Paris, 1910.
summary
of
the later process
sketched in the latter part of this Lecture, from the point of view of a generation ago, will be
found
in
Reville's History of the
Deity of Jesus Christ, 1878.
Dogma
of the
All students will be
deeply indebted to Hamack's great History of
Dogma,
vols, ii.-iv. (Engl, trans., 1896-98).
Anglican point of view Prof. Ottley,
The Doctrine
is
The
ably represented by
of the Incarnation, 1902,
and Mr. Bethune-Baker, Introduction History of Christian Doctrine, 1903.
to the
Early
Prof. Sanday's
volume, Christologies Ancient and Modern, 1910, selects certain aspects for exposition sion,
and
will
and
discus-
be considered in the next lecture.
Since these lectures were drafted an excellent translation of the
little
Christ, the Beginnings of
manual
of Prof. J. Weiss,
Dogma, by the Rev. V. D.
Davis, has been published.
IV
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES The Nicene of
settlement produced a fresh crop
theological
problems.
The
details
subsequent ecclesiastical warfare show
of
how
the
firmly
the general type of doctrine out of which Arianism
emerged, had been planted in different quarters of the Church.
was not
The Emperor discovered that
it
so easy to impose uniformity of belief.
There were friends of Arius in the court, and even
own
in his
family
;
and three years
he recalled the presbyter from
later, in 328,
exile,
and
after
another three years demanded his reinstatement at Alexandria.
Meanwhile the young Athanasius
had been elected to the episcopal
With a
chair.
dauntless courage he maintained his ground in spite of a sentence of deposition passed
Synod 1
of
Tyre
in 335.^
by the
The next year he was
This arose, however, out of another matter.
M
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
178
banished by the Emperor to Treves, and orders
were given for the solemn reception of Arius at Constantinople.
A grand procession was arranged
from the Imperial palace to the Church of the Apostles.
But the evening
Some
died.
before, Arius suddenly
of his followers suspected treachery
His opponents declared that by a
and poison.
stroke of Providence the Judas of orthodoxy
met
The and
had
his merited fate.
however, was not allayed.
strife,
Theology
personal intrigues and local struggles,
politics,
were hopelessly mingled. persecutions,
There were councils and
and counter-checks.
checks
The
tendencies out of which Arianism had emerged,
could not be suddenly and everywhere repressed.
The general its side.
forces of rationalism were enlisted
It represented a protest against
on
innova-
tions, and repudiated the growing practices of
prayers for the dead, the celibacy of the clergy,
the worship of saints, and the extreme austerities of
monks.
But the
conflict
which
it
engendered
involved grave dangers to the empire. for
this
that
Christianity
as the state-religion
?
Was
it
had been adopted
From such
quarrels the
romantic Julian endeavoured to lead men's minds
CHRISTIANITY AND THE EMPIRE
back to the ancient cults
;
I79
but his brief reign
sufficed to prove that the forces of the old religions
When the
were spent.
Spanish soldier Theodosius
ascended the throne with Gratian and Valentinian II,
orthodoxy
His famous
triumphed.
edict,
issued in 380, imposed the doctrine of the Trinity
upon
his subjects as
'
the religion taught
The next
Peter to the Romans.'
by
St.
year, 381, a
council at Constantinople re-enacted the creed of Nicasa,
expanding the
enough
to hold the
received
century
;
still
strong
Germanic invaders who had
from the missionaries of the fourth
it
tions that
clause concerning
earlier
But Arianism was
the Holy Spirit.
and
it
was only
in the course of genera-
Lombard and Goth submitted
authority of the Catholic Christianity of
to the
Rome.
(i)
Meanwhile,
the
remained unsolved.
and reaffirmed '
problem
The
of
Incarnation
fact, affirmed at Nicaea,
at Constantinople,
The only begotten Son
the
of
was stated thus
God, being
of
:
one
substance with the Father, was incarnate and was
made man.'
But the mode
was undefined.
What was
of this incarnation
the nature of this
l80
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
humanity
How
?
was
who had deigned
Person
In what fashion should possibilities
reality
to unite himself with
be conceived
it
it ?
Various
?
which corresponded with
;
?
The way the
were open
related to the divine
it
to a solution
questions
Within the
intricate.
was long and
ianity the influences at
field
difficult
numerous
were
involved
;
and
of organized Christ-
work were manifold.
The
victory of the Church over the expiring Paganism of the fourth
century inevitably promoted the
exaltation of the person of Christ.
In contrast
with the traditional forms of Hellenic or
Roman
worship, with the cults of the East which had
sought
to
establish
themselves
permanent
in
possession of the people's faith, or with the refined philosophical pantheism which
many
still
appealed to
cultivated minds, the distinctive element
in Christianity lay in a doctrine of salvation for
which the needed.
life
and death
of its founder
were both
In their interpretation the influences of
powerful personalities and great schools of teaching naturally played a vigorous part. of thought current at
Rome
or Constantinople, were
The modes
or Antioch, Alexandria
by no means the same.
FACTORS IN THE SETTLEMENT Different
methods
of study,
approach to the problems
of
l8l
different traditions of theolog}^
marked
They
the far-sundered branches of the Church.
were increased by diversities of language, as the cultivated Greek speech, the organ of literature
and philosophy, was rendered into Syriac East,
or
And
Latin in the West.
metaphysic,
Platonist,
in the
a different
Aristotelian,
Stoic,
or
Neoplatonist, might shape the issues along varying lines.
But, again, the alliance with the empire effected
by Constantine brought
The Church now stood Legislation
State.
Privileges
unity,
in close
connexion with the
was enacted
for
its
benefit.
and immunities were conferred upon
Whatever tended its
fresh factors into play.
was
more than
to
weaken
full of peril.
its
power and disrupt
Heresy might mean
ecclesiastical division
;
the lapse of
a province from orthodoxy might be
than a scandal
it.
for the bishops,
it
much more
might lead to
defiance of imperial control, and false doctrine
might ions
spell
of
dismemberment.
emperors,
tional significance.
The personal opingained
addi-
court, also, guided
by the
consequently,
The
proclivities of the reigning house,
and sometimes
^
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
l82
peculiarly susceptible to the counsels of a favourite
preacher, claimed over, the
its
More-
share of attention.
power to summon a general council
the Church did not
lie
within
its
right of initiative belonged to the
The
hierarchy.
Emperor
of
alone.
Yet, once more, the increased importance of
the bishops contributed another element of great
They
force.
constituted the teaching
body
and
;
The
the leadership of parties lay with them. influence of the great Sees like
Rome, Alexandria,
Antioch, Constantinople, extended over areas far
wider than their local jurisdiction.
Their occu-
pants demanded the allegiance of their brethren Italy,
of
followers
views
Egypt,
monks,
in
roused
vicissitudes
of
vehemence
of
Large
Syria.
crowds of
accompanied them to support their
and
;
or
the
immense bands
East
often
passion
to
say
to
of
the
added an element
controversy,
—not
by
violence
—gravely
opposed to calm reflexion or temperate debate.
Moreover 1
The
the
of
jealousies
twenty-first article of the
emphasizes this lay authority
' :
rival
ecclesiastics
Church of England
General councils
may
be gathered together without the commandment and of princes.'
still
not will
FACTORS IN THE SETTLEMENT led to
intrigues
Rome and to
for
vindicating special claims.
Alexandria might drop their hostility
combine
stantinople,
against
the
assumptions
of
Con-
which not even an emperor's presence
endow with
could
183
Christian tradition.
three
centuries
four
or
But behind
all
of
these conflict-
ing factors lay an increasing reverence for the decisions
of
the
oecumenical
great
councils.
Through these the Church spoke with increasing power.
Their
decrees
carried
with
them an
authority far transcending that of the individual
bishops which composed them.
grew
by
clearer that they were
their heavenly Lord,
For the
guarded from error
and that the voice
the episcopate was the guarantee of truth. successors of the apostles, in defining
ing the faith
committed to
could not
away from the
fall
belief
and
of
The
interpret-
their predecessors,
deposit originally
entrusted to the Twelve.
(ii)
Under these general conditions and settlement
for the formation
of doctrine the great
incarnation was pursued.
take place, and what were
theme
of the
In what form did its
it
consequences for
184
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
the two discrepant elements, divine and human,
God and
the only begotten Son of '
The Word was made
'
True God out of true God
said the Creed. of language tion.
;
handling
from either
was, there
The
of
Gospel.
was made man,'
.
side, that of
theological
the
course,
were
The question
likely that the answers
ence.
?
perhaps there was one of interpreta-
but
it.
Jesus
There was certainly a difference
Scripture
authority,
.
man
said the
flesh,' .
the
ultimate
ways
different
of
m.ight be approached
God
man, and
or
was
it
would show great diverg-
method would
from
start
the nature of the Deity, and would ask what would
be the a priori conditions of such an event
what
;
kind of union could conceivably take place between a person in the Godhead and a
human
earth for the purpose of salvation
;
being on
what would
be the resultant type of experience
;
how
far
could the energies and aptitudes of the one be
communicated to the other
to
;
what extent
could they feel and think and act together
?
On
the other hand, the historical method would start
from the records Gospels.
It
of the incarnate Person in the
would enquire what the Scriptures
related of his actual career.
It
would note the
METHODS OF APPROACH hints contained
from infancy to manhood.
passage
study the manner tion,
of his daily
and endeavour
his inner life
the facts
them.
must
it
to
It
his
would
walk and conversa-
apprehend the character
by the evidences
From
deeds.
of the
brief deUneation of
the
in
185
of
words and
of his
the picture thus wrought out of
would
and
infer the nature
relations
Godhead and the manhood which produced
An example suffice
to
of
each of these methods
illustrate
their
tendencies and
issues.
Apollinaris, father,
the
was bishop
son
cultured of
of the fourth century.
a
of
cultured
Laodicea in the second half
He had been
the champion
of Christianity against the philosopher
and
Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian.
A
home
student of metaphysics, at of Pythagoras, Plato,
and
critic
trained
in the schools
Aristotle,
he was also
familiar with the exegetical learning of the Biblical
theologians of Antioch
industry
;
and with untiring
had defended the Nicene orthodoxy
against the Arians, the Manicheans, and other heretics.
The
ontological
postulate
which
he
brought to the interpretation of the person of Christ
was that
of the
immutability of Deity.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
l86
Origen had admitted his possession of a
human
soul as a middle term between the Logos
the
flesh.
To
Apollinaris
It
introduced
concession.
this
seemed a the
into
and fatal
person
of
the Incarnate Son a free will exposed to the possibilities
of change,
Athanasian
doctrine
Redeemer should be such as
and therefore
sin.
demanded that the
had
above
lifted
all
variations
out of our mortal experience.
rise
The
The
conception of freedom implied moral probation it
;
involved the idea of a development in the
interior
Such a view savoured
life.
of the sub-
ordinate position assigned by Arianism to the
Son.
The
Father,
divine
Word, consubstantial with the
could not
be liable to vicissitudes of
purpose or disposition.
It
could not, therefore,
have been associated with that human intelligence which, in the Platonic psychology, was the seat of
ignorance
and
declared that the
That
sinful
instinct.
Word became
The Gospel
flesh,
signified that in clothing himself
not man.
with the
animated form of Jesus, the only begotten Son
had taken the
place of the
the earthly body as Apollinaris
human
its visible
pleaded,
spirit,
and wore
and temporary robe.
therefore,
for
the
'
single
METHODS OF APPROACH
Word made
nature of the
shrink from comparing the
l8j
He
flesh.'
Man-God
of
did not
orthodoxy
to the fanciful forms of Greek mythology like satyrs '
And
and minotaurs.
minghng
'
of the divine
was
so complete that
be
affirmed
and human attributes
what belonged to one might
the
of
he affirmed that the
The divine Word,
other.
accordingly, condescended to be born of Mary,
and died upon the
cross.
was the
It
last result
of the principle of the consubstantiality of the
But Apollinaris was con-
Father and the Son.
demned by the
council of Constantinople,
an imperial decree prohibited
and
his followers
from
to find in Scripture
what
worshipping together. ApoUinaris knew
how
suited his philosophical theology.
His yoimger
contemporary,
his
Bom
Theodore,
reversed
under John
'
of
the golden mouth,' and
receiving priest's orders about 383 to a church at Tarsus.
about the time when
Scriptural
was appointed
Thence, nine years
later,
some forty miles away.
theologians
from the traditions of
after
Apollinaris died, he passed
as bishop, to Mopsuestia,
The
method.
about 350 a.d. at Antioch, he had studied
of
Christ's
Antioch started
human
life.
They
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
l88
found the Gospels
The public
experience.
indications of a moral
full of
career
was prefaced by a temptation and a his trials lasted
till
Messiah
the
of
victory,
and
These could have
its close.
had no meaning had he not possessed a rational
human
soul, capable of choice
What,
evil.
with the
then,
Word
in essence
was the nature
connexion
of its
They could not have been one
?
for the divine
;
between good and
Word
could not have
been changed into a man, or even circumscribed by his bodily frame. of
'
working
'
Nor was the unity simply one
or energy, for the Deity
everywhere, and always operating
present
is
his presence
;
in Christ in this character conferred
no peculiar
was a
resembling
privilege.
that of
It
God with
harmony with the perfection as
its
his
union,
saints in virtue of their
mind and
his of
moral
will.
In
Jesus
obedience and piety brought
sublime result the
indwelling
of
Deity.
True, this began with his conception, for
God
development,
and
foresaw
the
course
of
his
in anticipation of his holiness deigned to unite
with him from the outset of his
life.
At each
stage of his advance, with each fresh step forwards
on the path of good, the union became more
TWO CONFLICTING TENDENCIES But there were
intimate.
189
two natures
after all
combined within one outward form, two stases
'
hypo-
'
or persons, in closest combination of grace
so that they might be adored as one.
Theodore
could not abandon his firm hold of the Gospel picture of the
allow that
humanity
God
could be
of Christ
bom
and
;
he could not
die.
(iii)
Two the
tendencies, accordingly, were involved in
language
the
of
Nicene
Creed,
struggled vehemently together.
and they
In the year 428
another student from Antioch became archbishop of Constantinople.
an ascetic Ufe
in the
ously described theology.'
Pious, eloquent, austere, living
The
by
gay his
city,
he was contemptu-
enemies as
refusal
of
one
'
of
ignorant of his
clergy,
Anastasius, to apply to the Virgin Mary the '
Mother
of God,'^
for his support.
title
brought Nestorius into the
He
field
could not admit such a union
between the two natures that the terms suited to the one could be applied to the other.
wrapped *•
in
swaddling
clothes
Hamack,
Hist, of
Dogma,
God
was a heathen
This was already current about 360, and
still earlier.
'
may
be traced
vol. iv., p. 168,
note
2.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
igO fable
'
three
;
he would not endure to worship a
months
God
old.
The report
of such language
reaching Alexandria,
was occupied by
was not long
in
where the bishop's chair
A
Cyril.
strange mingling of
ambition, unscrupulousness, and devotion, marked
On one
his character.
side he
he prompted outrages
and persecuting
spirit
upon the Jews
his clergy
;
showed a violent
;
were responsible for
But
the murder of Hypatia.
his writings
fill
an
important place in the development of Christological doctrine, for
in
the question
of
doctrine had this for
man
in order that
what kind
of
man
he was profoundly interested salvation. its
chief
The Athanasian
end
'
;
man might become ?
God became God.'
Not, argued Cyril, a single
individual, for in that case the benefit of
tion
redemp-
would have been limited to Jesus.
incarnation
of
the
But
Son was designed
for
The the
redemption of humanity, and the manhood with
which the Word was united must, therefore, have been generic or universal.
Like Athanasius (and
Apollinaris) Cyril laid stress also
on the divine
immutability, and consequently denied the presence of free will in Christ.
Before the union
NESTORIUS AND CYRIL the two natures were distinct
but in the union
;
There was but
the humanity was transformed. '
Word
one nature of the
stance of the manhood,
—
was incorporated
all
the
properties
of
The sub-
enfieshed.'
body and reasonable
own
in his
either
soul,
person, so that
nature w^ere mutually
Out
blended and completely fused.
of
two natures
But the divine
there thus emerged one Christ. so
I9I
human
completely absorbed the
that
CjTil
could afhrm that even while in the manger Christ filled
Cyril shrank
the whole creation as God.
from, none of the contradictions involved in his
The Logos remained
conception of this oneness.
unchangeable,
God was
yet
it
crucified,
hunger and pray.
could
God
suffered
— yet,
Cyril
was obHged to add almost Docetically, without suffering.
The
between
antagonism
doctrines
the
Nestorius and Cyril was aggravated of ecclesiastical jealousy.
nople Cyril appealed to Coelestine the See of
play
off
occupied
Rome.
Coelestine
the
stress
Constanti-
who then
filled
had no objection to
Alexandria against
with
by the
To thwart
of
Pelagian
New Rome. controversy,
Pre-
and
without really considering the teaching of Nes-
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
192
torius,
he hastened to condemn him.
synod
held
required
430
in
and charged
Cyril
carry
to
A Roman recantation,
his
out the sentence.
Nestorius retorted
by urging the Emperor
a general council.
It
tide,
Before
431.
met
the
at
to call
Ephesus at Whitsun-
arrival
the
of
Roman
legates or the Syrian bishops, Cyril adroitly seized
the presidency, and without waiting for John of
Antioch hastened to depose Nestorius, who had, meanwhile, refused to appear. contingent
reached
Ephesus,
\\Tien the Syrian
they
held
council under the direction of the Imperial
and
missioner, Cyril.
Last of
in their turn all
their
Com-
proceeded to depose
came the representatives from
Rome, pledged
to espouse the cause of Alexandria.
The adherents
of Cyril
consented to the reopening
of the council so as to exalt the Apostolic See.
The
acts were read over,
and the legates gave
sanction to the sentence against Nestorius,
shouts of
one faith It
A new
'
!
'
Amid
Paul, one Coelestine, one Cyril,
the conflict of parties came to a close.
was a short-lived triumph.
deposed
their
both
of
the
protagonists.
persecuted and dishonoured, place to place,
The Emperor Nestorius,
was driven
and died nine years
from
later in 440.
NESTORIANS IN THE EAST Cyril,
in
a formula admitting two
signed
433,
I93
natures after the Incarnation, which his opponent
could have equally accepted, and was reinstated old
his
in
authority.
But
the
followers
of
Nestorius spread farther and farther through the East,
till
in
781 they erected a famous stone
tablet at Singan in the Chinese
descendants
their
communities
are
still
;
and
found in scattered
in the valley of the
on the Western coast
Empire^
Euphrates and
of India,
(iv)
The over
;
struggle for a definition
was by no means
the unreconciled elements in the Nicene
orthodoxy could not be repressed.
But from the
death of Cyril in 444 the forces which were engaged
were rather political than theological. followed
by Dioscorus, who
Cyril
was
cherished the same
ambition to secure for Alexandria the leadership of the
1
this
Church of the East.
Under the Emperor Tai-tsung was a great centre
library of 200,000
discussion
He in
reverted to the
the seventh century
of intellectual activity.
volumes was collected
was actively pursued.
there,
An immense and
religious
The Nestorian mission
said to have arrived from Persia in 635.
N
is
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
194
and revived
older Athanasian type of doctrine,
the
formula
nature of
God
of
Cyril's
the
Word made
teaching,
earlier
'
one
He laboured
flesh.'
to secure the deposition of Nestorian bishops, and
made
it
his business to drive out
'
the two natures.'
In forcing his authority on unwilling churches he
made
claims to power rivalling those of
exposed himself to danger from two
was ready and watchful
in the
West.
Emperor
raised
his
Bosporus the
Rome, and sides.
Leo
Upon the own court-
bishop to the dignity of patriarch, equal in rank to the holders of the ancient sees of imperial favour could not
convey the sanctity
Relations became more and more
of antiquity.
strained,
but the prestige
;
and an occasion
for dispute
was soon
at hand.
A
venerable
Constantinople,
archimandrite
ruling his monks,
one nature
the
stood for the
of Cyril, the opposite doctrine to
Nestorianism
combated.
in quietly
to the S5niod
He
in the imperial city for heresy. '
life
was denounced
in
who had
Eutyches by name,
spent thirty of his seventy years of
'
abbot)
(or
Vainly
which did
he
he
had
appeal
formula of Athanasius and Cyril
;
strenuously to
the
old
vainly did he
EUTYCHES AND protest that he
'
ONE NATURE
'
1 95
would not go beyond the Scriptures,
and found nothing there about
He was condemned
'
two
natures.'
as a follower of Apollinaris,
and the newly decorated patriarch Flavian proceeded to circulate a decree of excommunication,
Eutyches naturally appealed to the Emperor, Theodosius
Leo
at
II,
Rome.
and further
He
laid his case before
also obtained the support of
Dioscorus at Alexandria in his council,
which the Emperor conceded.
Ephesus,
in
August,
a
met
at
The
violence of
proceedings under the presidency of Dioscorus
gained for '
It
for
One hundred and
449.
thirty-five bishops were present. its
demand
it
from Leo the contemptuous name of
the Robber Synod.'
may
The
stories
of
terrorism
have been exaggerated, but Dioscorus was
resolved to secure his
own supremacy.
A
letter
from Leo had been brought by the representative
from Rome, but he was not allowed to read though Dioscorus deposited It
was
civil
it
it,
among the minutes.
alleged afterwards that with the aid of the
power Dioscorus had posted armed
command
soldiers to
the approaches of the council chamber,
and the proconsul actually appeared at the door with a bundle of chains.
The patriarch Flavian
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
196
was deposed, and appealed
Rome.
authority of
in his turn to the
Barsumas, abbot of a Syrian
monastery, had brought his monks to overawe
The unfortunate patriarch
the Fathers.
ran
(so
the tale), brutally treated, kicked and beaten,
was thrown
into prison,
Hypepe on
at
his
way
and died three days into exile. ^
later
The bishops
were compelled to sign blank documents, and after other opponents of Dioscorus
had been
also
condemned, Eutyches was acquitted and restored.
When
the legates reported the proceedings at
Rome, Leo
rejected
the
Ephesian resolutions,
whereupon Dioscorus, in the spring of 450, took the audacious step of excommunicating his hated rival.
knot
Suddenly the Theodosius died.
His
was
cut.
On
sister Pulcheria,
July 28
who
be-
to
the
came empress, quickly gave her hand and the reversal
soldier Marcian,
of Theodosius began.
of
the policy
The imperial support
Dioscorus was withdrawn.
The temporary
macy which he had enjoyed
fell
away.
of pri-
Com-
munications were opened with Rome, and arrange1
Hamack,
Hist, of
all these charges.
Dogma,
vol. iv., p. 210, seriously
doubts
THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON ments were made
work
another council to undo the
for
of Ephesus.
opposite
met
It
Byzantium/
to
at Chalcedon, nearly
on October
The number
of bishops attending
on record
moved by
six
;
hundred
it
8,
was the
451.
largest
the recent dangers about
Both
assembled.
ecclesiastically, as
I97
politically
Ranke has noted,
most important council
of
and
was the
it
The presidency
all.
was assigned to Leo, who did not attend
in person,
but was, as before, represented by his legates, the imperial commissioners acting as effective presi-
Leo, however, had sent a lengthy letter
dents.
conveying his own interpretation of the Nicene creed, insisting
upon
'
one person in two natures.'
probable that the majority of the Fathers,
It is
especially the bishops of Egypt,
Palestine,
and
would have accepted the resolutions of
Illyria,
Ephesus
in 431, as interpreted
two natures Christ
is,'
by
Cyril,
meaning that
'
out of
after the
Incarnation the Logos had only one nature which
had become
flesh. ^
But the pressure
imperial authority was strong.
It
About two miles south 1
Harnack, Hist,
of
of the
Dogma,
the
was necessary
to tranquillize the distracted East. 1
of
modem
There were Scutari.
vol. iv., p. 216.
— THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
198
vehement debates, and dramatic
incidents,
as
one after another of the bishops who had supported
two
Dioscorus
years
before
signature had been extorted from
The Roman
that
alleged
him by
who
force.
condem-
representati\'es secured the
nation of Dioscorus,
his
persisted in maintaining
that he was the true follower of Athanasius and
and the way was gradually prepared
Cyril,
Leo's triumph.
It
seems Hkely that a formula
had been drawn up by a
secret
commission under
imperial orders before the council met.
based upon Leo's
letter,
Introduced at the
fifth
and embodied
'
We,
Christ
his views.
and concluded
:
then, following the holy fathers, all with one consent
men
teach
was
of confusion, mixture,
or blending, ascribed to Eutyches, as follows
It
on October 22,
session,
condemned every form
it
for
to confess one
and the same Son our Lord Jesus
the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in
:
Manhood and body
truly
;
;
God and
truly
Man
;
of a reasonable soul
consubstantial with the Father according to the
Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Man-
hood all
;
in all things like
unto us without
sin
;
begotten before
ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these
latter
days for us and our salvation born of the virgin Mary
the mother of God according to the Manhood
same
Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to
;
one and the
be acknowledged
in
THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably,
served,
indivisibly, insepar-
by no means taken away
ably, the distinction of natures being
by the
I99
union, but rather the property of each nature being pre
and concurring
in
one person and one hypostasis, not
parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same
Son and only begotten God, Word, Lord, Jesus
Christ, as the
prophets, from the beginning have declared concerning him,
and the Lord Jesus Christ himself hath taught Creed of the holy fathers hath delivered to
Three days later, on October
was
25, the sixth session
Pulcheria and Marcian were present
held.
in state.
and the
us,
us.'
The Emperor delivered an address
loud '
cries
Long
live
of
assent
—
'
We
Marcian, the
are all
'
!
orthodox
'
'
—
problem was in fact abandoned.
carried.
its
The
Its contradic-
tions were stated in the plainest terms
nature continued to exist in
* !
new Constantine, the Long live Pulcheria,
new Paul, the new David the new Helena the formula was !
in
Amid
favour of unity, and the question was put.
own mode
;
each
of being
;
but the fashion in which they were held together
by one person remained unexplained. The story was not ended,
for the
Greek
intellect
could not wholly reUnquish the attempt.
The
crude assertion of the Deity and the Humanity in juxtaposition
was unacceptable to the subtler
—
;
:
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
200
The sense
Eastern mind.
overwhelming
of the
superiority of the divine, the incongruousness of its
union with what was liable to decay, begot
various strange forms of speculation in the next
two hundred years traceable ultimately to the conception of one nature after the Incarnation.
But
West about the eighth century a Latin
in the
hymn, known by vult,
the
'
its
opening words as Quicunque
commonly
Creed
Athanasius,' began to
make
called
its
Saint
of
way, which
may
possibly be as old as the latter part of the sixth.
At any
rate its doctrinal type
is
which triumphed at Chalcedon.
the
In the English
churches which followed the Sarum daily
sung
before
the
Apostles'
Prayer Book of the present recitation
fourteen times
a
Roman view rite
right faith
of the
year.
Perfect
man
world
God and
flesh
The
its
verses
:
we beUeve and confess that our Lord Son of God, is God and man
substance of the Father, begotten before the
worlds, and in the
The
creed.
that
is
Jesus Christ, the
God
was
day requires
defining the nature of Christ run thus
The
it
perfect
subsisting
Godhead, and
manhood
of the substance of his mother,
bom
;
;
man,
of a reasonable soul
and human
equal to the Father as touching
his
to the Father as touching
his
inferior
THE MANHOOD AFFIRMED Who, although he be God and man, Christ
but by taking
flesh,
One
altogether, not of person so
;
yet
of the
manhood
by confusion
The author
God
and
:
but by unity one man,
flesh is
one Christ.
is
of the
Creed
that
is
into
of substance,
for as the reasonable soul
God and man
thing certain
he not two, but one
is
not by conversion of the Godhead into
one,
;
201
it
is
unknown
;
the one
was not Athanasius,
for
the true sequel of his Christology would be some
form
of
Monophysitism, or the doctrine of One Like the formula of Chalcedon,
Nature.
not attempt to reUeve the metaphysical
but
perfection,
it
by
side,
no account
each in
its
left the contradiction of their
co-existence in one person unresolved,
and
offered
The method and
of their union.
effect
mutual operation remained undetermined,
of their
but whatever
he was
did
clung to the fact of Christ's manhood.
it
Placing the two natures side
own
it
difficulty,
still
else Jesus
may have
been besides,
a man.
(V)
The Church
is
now
the same problem.
confronted once more with
The Anglican movement
in
the last century shifted the theological centre of interest
from
the
Evangelical
conception
of
202
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
atonement to the
ecclesiastical doctrine
of the
incarnation.
Here was the fundamental idea
Christianity,
and the whole
object
to
Moreover,
extend with
of the sacramental
Church had
institutions of the
for their principal
benefits
its
the
of
reaction
the
believer.
against
different
to
modifications of the Calvinistic type, the student of the
New Testament
stood Jesus.
The
found that behind
spirit
once roused, was not content
till
it
Paul
enquiry,
historical
of
St.
brought the
Gospels within the range of accepted scientific
methods, and the long
series of lives of Christ,
German, French, and English,
testifies to
the zeal
with which this object has been pursued. single
illustration
psychological control.
must
fidelity
suffice
has
to
modified
One
show how dogmatic
In the article on Jesus Christ contributed
by Dr. Thomson
(then Archbishop of York) to
the Dictionary of the Bible edited by Dr. William
Smith
in
1863 we read the following account of
the Temptation
:
was the trial of one who could not possibly have fallen. This makes a complete conception of the temptation impossible for minds wherein temptation is always associated '
It
with the possibiUty of
sin.'
It is obvious that
under such circumstances
MODERN temptation loses different
is
its
DIFFICULTIES
203
meaning altogether.
Very
the treatment of the same theme by-
Prof. Sanday, in the corresponding article in the
Dictionary edited by Dr. Hastings (1899) It is impossible for us to
'
understanding
how what we
Son
It
of
God.
he had been
also,
understand call
it,
in the sense of
temptation could affect the
could not have touched him at
and no
:
unless
all,
Son of Man.'
less really,
Various circumstances have combined to bring the question of the relation of the two natures
once more to the front place in connexion with
The
the doctrine of the person of Jesus.
critical
study of the Old Testament, for example, has gravely modified authorship of
now known,
many
traditional views of the
different books.
its
Moses,
it
is
did not write the Pentateuch, nor
David the hundred and tenth Psalm, nor Daniel book
the
Gospels
How to
which
attribute
were
such
be explained
issues,
bears
such
ascriptions
erroneous ?
name.
his
literary
Yet to
the
Jesus.
judgments
The enquiry opened wider
which were frankly faced by Dr. Gore
in his essay
published Subjects
on 'the Consciousness
in
his
connected
volume with
the
of
of our Lord,'
Dissertations
Incarnation
on
(1895).
204
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
'
Up
'
he lived and taught, he thought and was inspired
to the time of his death,'
and was tempted,
as true
we read
(p.
and proper man, under
the limitations of consciousness which alone possible a real
human
of our heritage
87),
Of
experience.
we must not
make
this part
allow ourselves to
be robbed by being " wise above that which written."
'
The evidence
of
this
lies
growth
in
capacity. in
wisdom
lectual
There was a real
mental apprehension and
When we
and moral
in spiritual
are told that he
as in stature, life
on the
Jesus was
surface of the First Three Gospels.
taught as the young are taught.
is
advanced
plain that his intel-
it is
developed with expanding
knowledge
and the transition from youth to
maturity.
He was
subjected to temptations such
man and he met them by He asked for of a human will.
as might beset a
the free exercise
;
information and received surprise
;
it
;
he could express
his knowledge was limited.
last night of his life
he
is
On
the
seen in Gethsemane to
be weighted with an almost crushing burden.
The
future
is
not clear to him.
He
stands before
a catastrophe which threatens to destroy hopes.
It falls
upon him, and on the
all his
cross he
MODERN DIFFICULTIES feels himself really forsaken.
would
seem
impossible
consciousnesses,
to
205
In such a being
suppose
that
it
two
and human, were going
divine
on together.
Such Fathers
facts could not be wholly ignored
who were engaged
issues of the
Nicene doctrine.
by the
working out the
in
Athanasius, indeed,
had been so occupied with the vindication
of the
presence of Deity in Christ that he paid but
scanty attention to his humanity the idea that his will was
doubtedly other men. for
the
intended
to
as
man,
but in rejecting
;
mutable,' he un-
differentiate
The favourite method
him from
of accounting
apparent limitations of his knowledge
was based on the doctrine ance.'
'
By of
of his
economic ignor-
'
was meant that he was ignorant,
this
what he
at the
same time knew as God.
This singular conception inevitably led to moral confusion.
Under
its
influence
which God reveals himself intelligible
man,
to
meaning a process fact deception. '1
the Son
knew
'
the process
in such a
passes
way
as to be
imperceptibly
of divine reserve
If
by
which
into is
in
Jesus affirmed that not even
the day and the hour of the coming 1
Gore, Dissertations, p. iji.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
206
Son
the
of
Cyril,
Man, he only pretended, said
of
More boldly
not to know.
Ephraim
(about
308-373)
said "
I
know
such
to
reply,
'
If
the
not."
'
Christ,
of his advent, yet
him any more about
Was
Theodoret^
pleas
it,
surprising that
it
should
indignantly
he knew the day, and, wishing to conceal
said he
it,
it
'
the S5n:ian
declared,
though he knew the moment that they might not ask
still
result
was ignorant, of
see
what blasphemy the Truth
this
conclusion,
from
this difficulty
is
tells
a He.'2 Partial reHef
m
has been found
known by its Greek name as emptying.' Founded on the well
the doctrine
kenosis
or
'
known words
of the apostle Paul,^
conceive the process
it
endeavours to
by which the
divine Son
divested himself of certain of his powers in passing
from the heavenly glory to submit to the conditions of our
human
state.
Among
the earhest
exponents of this view was Hilary of Poitiers (died 368). 1
Bom
He had been
a follower of Athanasius,
at Antioch towards the end of the Fourth Century
died soon after the Council of Chalcedon. 2
Gore, Dissertations, pp.
s
Philippians
ii.
1
30-1 31.
7, see ante, p. 127.
;
THE DOCTRINE OF KENOSIS and had suffered
Arian struggle.
exile in the
on the Trinity
treatise
of Augustine,
was not without influence as the
of the
but
later references
Schoolmen show, Lanfranc and Peter the
Lombard, Aquinas and Bonaventura.
All souls,
taught Hilary, derive their being from God. soul of Jesus
who
His
was afterwards over-
shadowed by the great work it
207
The
was created undefiled by the Logos,
fashioned a body to match out of the sub-
stance
of
Mary.
In uniting himself with this
soul the Logos, with self-renouncing love, relin-
quished his heavenly glory, and kept back the attributes of his Deity.
At every moment he
possessed power over himself
;
he could allow his
physical nature to grow, to hunger, to suffer,
and
to die, while he held back his o\\ti omniscience
and omnipotence.
The Son
of
God
thus subsisted
simultaneously in two spheres, the glory which he possessed before the incarnation, and the humiliation involving the passage from birth to maturity as
man.
Hilary positively revelled in the an-
tinomies of this dual existence in
man, but did not cease to
tracted himself to conception,
God was bom be God. He con'
:
and the manger,
and infancy, without decHning from the power
of
208
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES The doctrine had
God.'^
Tiibingen
attractions for later
and the professors
theologians,
the
in
of
Giessen and
century actively
seventeenth
disputed whether the Son voluntarily laid aside the divine attributes, or whether he continued to possess
them but concealed them and held them
in reserve.
The problem has been approached
afresh in our
own time by an
AngUcan
influential school of
theologians, reinforced
voices from other
which they
communions.
offer really
by independent Does the solution
meet the case
?
(vi)
That Jesus Christ accepted the current views about the Scriptures of his people, that he shared the ideas of his time about angels and demons
which science has discarded, that he foretold the impending
close of the existing order,
and
in
no
way
foresaw the course of history, the growth of
the
Church,
society, or the
knowledge
—
dangers
the
is
of
government and
immense developments
now widely
recognized.
of
modern
How
are
such results to be harmonized with the doctrine that the
Second Person of the Godhead was
incarnate in 1 Ottley,
him
?
It
The Doctrine
is
answered that
in be-
of the Incarnation, p. 385.
THEORIES OF KENOSIS coming
man
2O9
the Son relinquished the omniscience
which belonged to hun in the heavenly
But what
any act
who
instructs his
children,
analogy
their
to is
inexact
his
inexperienced for
;
it
father
own
attain-
and opening
ignorance,
their
The
?
urged, speaks
is
it
from their point of view, bringing
glimpses
is
fresh
minds.
The
not suggested that
Jesus assumed his hearer's beliefs knowing to be erroneous,
?
know, or discard by
to
of will the gains of thought
ments to
mind
the relation of knowledge to
is
Can we ever resolve not
life.
and intending
them
them
to correct
;
he employs them as his own, and, in one notable case, bases
on
an important
his
power to
asked,
confined of
?
within If
out demons
argument concerning the actual
presence of the Rule of God.
be
cast
what
Moreover,
limits
is
it
must
process
this
Jesus were in error on the subject
demoniacal possession, he was
so
seriously
mistaken (we are warned) on the whole theme of the powers of good and
evil,
that he could not
be regarded even as a perfect prophet. ^ 1
Some
Dr. Gore in the posthumous publication of the Thoughts
on Religion of the
Manual
late J. G.
Romanes,
p. 181.
Cp. Dr. Strong.
of Theology, 2nd ed., pp. 126-128.
O
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
210
criminate the words of
down by which to dishuman ignorance from
those
The theory that while
clearer test
must be
laid
divine truth.
of
some heavenly knowledge was abandoned other were
portions
introduces
retained,
the consciousness of
into
a
division
Jesus which has no
analogy in our experience, and makes him speak
now
one character and
in
Nor can any such Mind
it
its
possible
To such apprehension
view
his
known.
relations
and every imaginable
him
;
not only
Truth.
and
Immensity with
issue
is
he cognizant of
but in an
begetter and the ceive the
is
We
joy.
his
sum
is
for ever
discerned.
all
'
lives in ever-
say of one aspect of
substance
of all ideas.
Word, the sharer
conceivable
infinite variety
where our thought touches
That
are in
things are open,
ways he transcends our world and
his being, is
is
of our experience,
lasting activity
of
unheard melodies, abide
All visions of beauty, all
of
all
boundless range of creative options
modes
into
as our poor endeavour can attain,
To
identical.
present,
in
up
must appear that thinking and being
him all
another.
in
partition be carried
the thought of God. the Infinite
then
'
his, :
he
that he is
the
Can we con-
of this knowledge, the
THEORIES OF KENOSIS
211
when preparing
partner of this essence,
be
to
born a Jew, arranging beforehand to forget who wrote the Pentateuch, but to remember Beelzebub Or, stranger
still,
in
?
uttermost surrender, not only
emptying out the contents
of knowledge,^
but
dispossessing himself of the ability to think,
and
own
divesting himself of his
How
self-consciousness
can the Eternal and the Omnipresent thus
cease to be, for
when he
ceases to
thinker and thought exist no more told that the everlasting
making heaven and
in
?
years ignorant
was,
the Holy Spirit revealed
Hardly
grew up till»
at his baptism,
is
!^
apprehend the idea
of the Son's relinquishment of his
divine thought,
for thirty
him to himself
less difficult is it to
The world, conceived
himself
Yet we are
Word, the Father's agent
earth,
who he
know ?
omnipotence.
as the manifestation of the
continuously maintained
by
Moment by moment, hour by the mind and will of God express
the divine energy.
hour, age
1
by
age,
The Pauline figure inevitably involves these But knowledge, of course, cannot
ceptions.
spatial con-
subsist
in-
dependently without a mind. 2
Godet
in his
May, 1895,
Commentary on
p. 391.
St.
John, and The Thinker,
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
212
One type
themselves in our universe.
of Christian
theology declares that the Son was even in Jesus
by the word
of his power.'
How shall we reconcile this with the
figure learning
'
upholding
all
things
obedience through suffering, and bowed in supplication with strong crying and tears of the Epistle to the
Hebrews made no attempt
He
to harmonize them. side
by
simply set his pictures
Later theologians were more bold.
side.
Proclus, the adversary
replying
The author
?
the
to
and successor
Presbyter
of Nestorius,
Anastasius
in
the
Cathedral of St. Sophia at Constantinople, declared that
bosom and
'
He, the same, was in his Father's
in the Virgin's
arms and on the wings
by
angels in heaven,
on earth. '^
;
in his mother's
worshipped
of the wind,
and supping with publicans
Cyril asserted that even while in the
manger he nevertheless as God.
womb
filled
the whole creation
The German divines affirmed that when
he hung on the cross he was also ruling in Athens
and by
like reasoning it
from the depths God,
why
hast
of his desolation
thou forsaken
conducting the eclipse which 1
;
might be argued that
—
'
me
My ?
'
—he
testified to
Gore, Dissertations, p. 104.
God,
my was
Nature's
THEORIES OF KENOSIS
sympathy with
decease
his
213
But the Gospel
I^
evidences of the limitations of his power strip
such contradictions of
At Nazareth the
semblance of
all
reality.
fellow-townsmen
hostility of his
rendered him unable to do any mighty work
(Mark
vi.
Son
We
5).
are
visiting
the
physical attributes. ^
He
the
in
accordingly, that
told,
abandoned
his
ceased to live the
life
earth
of Godhead, and discontinued
Such an
tions.
But
it is
purpose.
conscious
a
implies
can be no accident,
It
resolve.
that of parting with
act, like
omniscience,
his
cosmic func-
his
the issue of deliberate
that, again, involves the interpreta-
tion of the persons of the Trinity as constituted
with separate minds and doctrine
to
the verge
Dr. Strong, in his
1
writes
' :
As Word
sustains the world
no
less
of
wills,
which brings the Moreover,
tritheism.
Manual of Theology, 2nd ed., 1903, p. 123, God we believe that He created and the world was sustained by the Word
of ;
during the days of the humiliation.'
modern Roman Catholic
I
the family at Nazareth, use these words,
of
Almighty God, Maker
mother 2
for bread,
have heard a
preacher, enlarging on the poverty
of
heaven
and
'
earth,
Think, the
asked
his
and she had none.'
Dr. Fairbaim, The Place of Christ in Modern Theology,
p. 477.
So, also. Prof. Godet.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
214
how can we
conceive
energy divesting
an
of
itself of itself
In this divorce
?
from the thought which directed controlled
What
?
regulates
it,
What
the world.
prescribes
is
it
it is
course, guards
its
end
to its
Will
?
its
possession
distinguished
Is
?
advocate
of
should prefer not to enquire functions of the Son
while
it
sustaining
of
?
it
And how
come back
it
wanted, and by what means
reinstated in
one
is
resumed when the Son has regained the
knowledge he discarded
when
it
how
Boundless force
it ?
unguided might dissolve instead
from aberration, conducts
physical
infinite
another
metaphysical
the Son
surprising that
this
into
hypothesis the
cosmic
during the Incarnation,^ frankly
should
difficulties
even the limitations
it
is
of
admit that the
involved in his accepting
human knowledge
are
insuperable P^
Once more, the incarnate a moral problem of no
life
of the
little difficulty
of the Synoptic tradition.
The
Son presents on the basis
pictures of the
temptation which follow the descent of the Spirit are not reproduced 1
Gore,
* Ottley,
by the Fourth Gospel.
Bampton
The Doctrine
Lectures, 1891, p. 266. of the Incarnation, p. 623.
The
THE MORAL PROBLEM
215
transcendent Son was elevated above trials as
{Luke
followed
xxii. 28).
No
to the last night of his
conflict of wills
life
was possible
him who always did what pleased the Father
for
{John
viii.
replaced
is
him
such
all
29),
would be above
of
endowed with the
The Messianic spirit of
knowledge and the fear
lifted,
wisdom
of the Lord,
according to Jewish expectation,
To avoid
sin.^
Gethsemane
of
by a majestic calm.
king, divinely
and might,
and the agony
the faintest suspicion of
contamination through bodily desire, the apostle
Paul would only concede that
Son
'
God had
in the likeness of sinful flesh
'
{Rom.
Over against the Gospel testimony— thou
me good
God
{Mark
'
?
x.
None 18^)
is
'
sent his viii. 3).
Why
callest
good save one, that
—stands
the Greek
the immutableness of the ultimate Being.
by
his essential nature,
vicissitude.
The
Psalms
Solomon
1
of
xvii. 41.
to the presence within fruit of the
him
But
God,
can be exposed to no
alternations of our
way, was morally perfect.
is
idea of
human
The Buddha,
in the
exsame
was not due power, it was the
this sinlessness
of a celestial
attainment of perfect knowledge after age-long
devotion. 8
On
the alteration of this text in Matt. xix. 16, see Tha
First Three Gospels, 4th ed., 1909, p. 310.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
2l6
perience
him
affect
His substance must
not.
for ever
remain unchanged, and his holiness no
thought
of
can
evil
ever
How,
cloud.
then,
should the variations of hunger and thirst, the small conflicts of appetite, the trials of weariness
and disappointment, the impulses
Word
ambition, affect the heavenly
suggestion that the
quiescent
itself in
of
during
'
Word was the
in
temptation,^
and death.
'
solitary
incident,
rest
'
was a permanent
it
And a imposed upon the Word
is
For
this
it
was
real
human
requisite that
should have unimpeded scope. of
?
necessity of laying aside those attributes
which would have hindered a ment.
Did the Word,
during his whole career
stiU further limitation
by the
and held
But the temptation
condition, of the ministry of Jesus.
then,
some manner
mysterious reserve during the awful hours
crucifixion
was no
The theory
been recently revived with the
of Irenaeus has
'
anger or
of
?
develop-
the manhood
Only
realm
in a
freedom could temptation have any meaning.
To accomplish
the purpose of redemption
it
was
indispensable that the humanity with which the
Son was associated should be without 1
Ottley,
The Doctrine
sin.
But
of the Incarnation, p. 6io.
in
THE MORAL PROBLEM
217
Word how
union in one person with the divine
ts
Gould
it
possess
any liberty to
err
Anointed with
?
how should it even be liable to temptation ? What dark thoughts could cloud that radiant endowment ? Could the need of food, the Holy
Spirit
or the wish for rest, ever interfere with activity in doing tion of
good
any innocent
holy
its
How should the gratifica-
?
affection
—the
sweetness of
friendship at Bethany, for instance
—ever
tempt
such a being into an enjoyment contrary in time or occasion to the heavenly will
?
To
preserve
the reality of temptation he was actually solicited to evade the law of consecrated obedience
a
counter\'ailing force enabled
trial.
He
issue
was
was predetermined,
The beams
inevitable.
were restrained ness in reserve
;
;
the All-holy kept
but
it
was
still
though unescapable control. all,
could not will to sin,i
by the might culties are 1
no
it
of the ^^'ord. less serious
Cp. Dr. Strong,
Manual
but
to master the
was, we are assured, undoubtedly
and yet the victory
him
;
for
of
its
free,
the
Deity
righteous-
there with a silent
The manhood,
after
was kept from swerving Surely the moral
diffi-
than the metaphysical.
of Theology, p.
124,
even though really tempted, was incapable of
'
sin.'
Our Lord,
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
2l8
Nor
by
are they lightened
doctrine of Cyril which,
we
association with the
are assured, the Church
has ever taught, namely, that the humanity of
Jesus was impersonal,^ a nature not individual but
Had
generic. is
it
been that
of a single person,
it
affirmed, the benefits of the redemption effected
by
Word would have been
union with the
its
limited to the
man
That the great
of Nazareth.
saving act wrought by the Incarnation might be
extended to
all, it
was necessary that the manhood
should not be limited to a single being, but be really universal.
Jesus
was subject 1 Ottley,
Manual
It is true
to the ordinary laws of nurture
The Doctrine
The Son
of
God
602
of the Incarnation, p.
of Theology, p. 130.
I
stand the meaning of Hooker '
that in the Gospels
displayed as a particular person.
is
know not
and
Strong,
rightly under-
if I
Book
(Eccl. Polity,
;
He
V., ch. Hi. 3)
;
did not assume a man's person unto his own,
but a man's nature to
his
own
Person.
,
.
.
His making and
taking to himself our flesh was but one act, so that in Christ there
is
lasting.
no personal subsistence but one, and that from ever-
By
taking only the nature of man, he
still
continueth
one person, and changeth but the manner of his subsisting,
which was before
now
in the
mere glory
in the habit of our flesh.'
ApoUinarianism
;
but
in §4
of the
Son
This looks at
we hear
a human body, but also a human
of God, first
and
is
sight like
that Christ not only had
soul.
IMPERSONAL HUMANITY
219
growth, though his body, we are informed (not
by the
pain acts
;
;
body,
was incapable
Evangelists),
He
disease.
he thought real thoughts he possessed life,
mind
to distinguish
;
all
hunger and
he willed real
;
the elements of manhood,
was nothing outwardly
there
him from those who shared
intimacy, like Peter, James,
we
of defect or
felt real sensations, like
are assured his
and John
manhood was an
;
his daily
and yet
abstraction
;
the Incarnation took place in Humanity, not in a personal
Had
human
being
;
in
Man, not
in a
man.
Jesus been an individual like one of ourselves,
would have taken a fourth person
his ascension
into the
Godhead, and converted the Trias into
But how can we present to ourselves
a Tetras.^ a generic
manhood
in a specific form, unlimited
by personal consciousness
?
The
universal char-
acteristics of the race, divested of
an animating
personality, are a pure abstraction of the mind.
For us they
exist only in thought,
only in the particular.
by themselves A I
in
any
and are seen
They cannot be place, or
bom
in
localized
any time.
have heard an Anglican preacher describe the ascended
Christ as sitting with his physical body, head, hands, feet, in
the middle of the Trinity
I
220
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
It is confessed that Jesus
manifested self-conscious-
ness, intelligence, emotion, resolve, through a real
mouth, and actual eyes, and is,
This
visible hands.
however, exactly what we denote by personality.
Precisely in these manifestations
distinguishing one
man from
man and
our means of
another.
To say
mount
possessed only the
common
also to the China-
that the teacher on the
elements of humanity
lie
sum
the Hottentot, the generalized
what belongs to
all
any
identification with
make havoc
of
members
of the race,
without
special individuality,
history
of
is
to
Only
and philosophy.
the direst theological necessity can point to such
an
issue.
A
unconfined
humanity comprising the whole
by
a
person,
yet
occupying
physical frame, with a pedigree behind cross in front,
Does not the
is
it
race,
one
and a
beyond our power to conceive.
difficulty
prove the need of revising
the whole scheme of the Trinity, Incarnation, and
Redemption
?
(vii)
The conceptions thus
briefly discussed are all
concerned with the metaphysical aspects of the Incarnation, and are involved in various difficulties arising out of the idea that the divine sub-
THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF stance,
and
infinite
few words
another
concerning
by
A
properties.
he designates
on
one
'
side
bravely
suggestion
ontological
all
from
On
recently
The
life
human man
teach, " very
life
" ;
He
;
there
us from speaking of this as *
and
theories
of
the one hand, in accordance with
of our Lord, so far as it
a strictly
what
It leaves
the Gospel testimony Prof. Sanday writes '
offered of
perplexities,
present
the
be said
finally
reduced Christology.'^
starts
psychology.
may
of its
itself
meet the advocates
Prof. Sanday, to
and
omniscient
eternal,
omnipotent, can voluntarily divest
own
221
we should speak
was
167)
visible,
:
was
was, as the Creeds is
nothing to prevent
human
of the life of
But, on the other hand,'
(p.
it is
life
of
His just
one of ourselves.'
added,
we no
'
less
emphatically refuse to rule out or ignore or explain
away
the evidence which the Gospels and the rest
of the
New
Testament afford that
this
human
life
was, in
its
deepest roots, directly continuous with
the
of
God
life
conceive
and express
Without laying any
Homoousion 1
The problem
Himself.'
in
this
stress
its
Christologies Ancient
in
is
how
to
modern terms.
on the doctrine
of the
Greek form, Prof. Sanday and Modern, 1910, lecture V.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
322
boldly invokes the current notion of the subconscious
self.
That many processes
thought and feeling
of
take place below the surface life
has long been recognized.^
a quarter of a century ago
of our
But
(in the
conscious
it
was only
chronology of
the late Prof. William James) that a real step
forward was made by the discovery that in some persons at least beside the ordinary modes of
our experience there activity in
memory
may
mental
be forms of
or reasoning or emotion which
proceed without their knowledge, and only show themselves in their results. conscious
whole
self
life.
The
field
of
their
does not, in other words, cover their
Just as at either end of the spectrum
there are waves of light which our senses do not
enable us to translate into colour, so on the borders of the inner history
we know from hour
to hour there He tracts of activity which
The inquirer
not habitually discern. obscure processes
1 I
W.
may
is
be permitted to
side
recall the fact that
under the term
early as about 1853.
into these
always in danger of being
B. Carpenter, drew attention to
logical
we do
*
my
father, Dr.
them from the physio-
unconscious cerebration,' as
;
THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF
own metaphors.
misled by his
describe in terms of space
extension whatsoever.
We
thoughts as in our minds
;
He
what
223 is
obliged to
really has
no
commonly speak
of
but minds take up
no room, they have no dimensions, and
it is
only
for convenience that the language of inclusion or
figure
become established on the image
room
The
employed.
is
in recent
There
or house.
our
term which has
usage,
founded
is
a
of the threshold (Latin limen) of is
must
sensation or thought into
special
conscious
'
a level above which
rise before it
The
life.'^
can enter
activities
that
engage our attention, which we watch, direct, and control, all proceed
above this level
crossed the threshold
;
fore,
as supra-liminal.
now
realized,
is
tions, thoughts,
they
they have
But beneath them,
it
is
an obscure scene where sensa-
and emotions, continually act and
without definitely entering into the upper
react, field
;
they are described, there-
within our view.
These are
below the threshold
lie
;
all
sub-liminal
and from time to
time through some access of energy one or another
makes
its
way
above, and some idea, suggestion,
fancy, purpose, passion, arises into full conscious1
F.
W.
Myers,
Human
Personality, p. 14.
224
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
ness in our mind.
It is in this region that
modern
investigation seeks for the explanation of a wide
range of our inner us day
feel, say, do,
sphere.
of
what happens to
what we ourselves think,
of
seems to leave no trace in our actual
But
memory.
Much
life.
by day, much
registered in the sub-conscious
it is
There
it
contributes to the
formation
of character, to the enrichment or the corruption
For
of our interior strength. of habit
;
experience
here are stored ;
on
this
up the
the real seat
results of our
this field conflicts of instinct are
fought out, of which we often results, in the
is
know only
the
shape of impulses or propensities
which surge up unexpectedly into the midst
of
Deep down within us
the region of our control.
are these diverse elements of character, which are
sometimes capable of being separated so as to constitute
what seem
in
groups
distinct personalities
within one physical being, with separate aptitudes
and
humours,
dispositions, tastes,
memories.
Here
also,
it
is
capacities,
and
suggested, are those
energies which in heightened form transcend the
normal exercise
of our
thought
insight into intellectual
open to the inner
;
those flashes of
and moral truth which
eye visions
of
reality
that
THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF
225
our ordinary intelligence could not reach
power
of artistic creation
which
is
that
;
no process of
mechanical structure or even of rational develop-
ment, but the unsought uprising of a great idea to
which eye and hand
may
only be able to give
imperfect shape, or language inadequate expres-
This
sion.
in
is
the spontaneous activity of genius,
which many races have dimly seen the presence
and action
of
And
some higher power.
suggests Prof. Sanday, that
we may
here
see the proper
seat of all divine indwelling, or action
human
it is,
on the
soul, and, in particular, the place of the
Deity of the incarnate Christ.
That one of
Being,
Emerson.
side of our nature is
open to the deeps
some of us learned long ago from
Sanday
Prof.
prefers the
statement of Wordsworth, greater than
we know.'
'
We
more guarded
feel
The curious
that
we
figure
are
which
he devises to present his thoughts to us pictorially, takes the shape of a narrow-necked vessel, across the orifice of which a porous is
stretched.
Much
can get through
;
of
web
of consciousness
what comes up from below
but some of the contents never
At the lower end, however,
pass the
little barrier.
there
an opening unstopped, unconfined
is
;
P
and
;
226
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
through this
'
there are incomings
which stretch away into proceed from, and are,
personaHty
it
is
and outgoings, and
infinity,
God
in
fact
In such a
Himself.'
two
plain that there are not
simultaneous consciousnesses proceeding together,
one of which encompasses the other. depicted
divine
ruling the
human
of
so as to deprive
suggestion
the
it
of its natural
upon the lower by
acts it
;
is
any way controlling or
in
The higher
freedom.
way
as
Nor
must be conceived as
stimulating the energies in the midst of which
works
;
it
it
quickens some thoughts and feelings
into a Uvelier activity
had no existence energy of God
;
at
differs
it
begets others which had before.
all
from what
How may
the action of the Spirit, in what respect
far
this
be called it
consti-
tuted in Christ a unique manifestation of the Deity,
it is
not easy to
infer.
The
figure
might be
applied to various types of prophet, seer, or saint
and as an interpretation
of the divine element in
the person of Christ in terms apphcable in various degrees to other forms of
might welcome mystics of
it
human
experience
with sincere goodwill.
many ages and of various common ground.
here meet on
we The
lands might
THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF But the divine sub-liminal
not the only element
is
This dim-lit region
self.
upon the conscious
visible trace
up unseen
shape
the
in the
the
is
which have
of all kinds of experiences
build
227
home
left
Here they
life.
connexions, which mould and
hidden
forces
character
of
here
;
instincts long driven out of the higher nature live a
suppressed hfe
;
Many Some
have no moral character. of mechanical processes
trifles,
by
mere survivals
which have long since
the
Others are the
flotsam
and
jetsam
Uttle eddies out of the course of the
main stream. dark and
of these elements
are
passed into automatic action.
deposited
still
here old habits yet clog the
powers of clearer resolve.
unconsidered
no
And
yet again others belong to
sinister groups, which,
coming together
we know not how, produce those sudden of evil thought, of
intrusions
unholy temper, which some-
times disturb even lofty minds.
Who
that has
striven to control the uprising of passion, or master
the impulse of fear, or conquer the suggestions of malice, does not look back even with horror at
the secret depths of his of evil can
The
own
nature, where a riot
take place without his knowledge
difficulty is
not unfelt by Prof. Sanday,
!
who
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
228
has recognized that the unconscious the seat of the divine, as well
it is
not only
is
that of the diaboHcal
(p. 163).
Moreover, of the functions of the Son in the
maintenance
That
account.
world this theory gives no
of the
and
uniform
steadfast
action
which the order of the universe implies, can hardly be realized through the obscure, and, added, often In that
self.
own no
our
fitful activities of
which
life
place
is
must be
the sub-conscious
so frankly likened to
left for
is
it
the infinite energy
required to uphold the fabric of heaven and earth. It
however, apparently in his consciousness as
is,
Messiah
that
culminates
' :
the
proof
the
title
functions of the Judge
And
of
Deity
his
Messiah
really
included
—the Judge of
all
the
mankind.
we cannot doubt that our Lord thought of
Himself as destined to hold this great
assize.'
the descriptions of the judgment by the
But
if
Son
of
Man
attributed to Jesus in the Gospels
are to be put to this use,
it
must not be forgotten
that they contain an element of time which was
never in
fulfilled.
the Hfe-time
The event which was of
to
happen
that generation would
un-
doubtedly have conclusively estabUshed the claims
THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF based upon
it,
had
But with every
taken place.
it
229
century that has since elapsed, its probative value has decHned
;
and now that
this great expectation
has passed out of our world-view, the Messianic character no longer expresses what Jesus really
stands for in history, and the lofty pretensions
which Christendom has associated with
it
will
slowly be dissolved and fade away.
But through the
strife of creeds,
the conflicts
of philosophies, the struggles of parties, rivalries of ecclesiastics,
the story of Christian the
record
of
an
we may
dogma an
man
to
man.
If
planets, is
ideal side.
— often
It is
by
by misunderstanding
—to
grapple with a mighty truth.
God
discern in
marred
attempt
bigotry and frustrated
still
and the
The
revelation of
can only take place in and through
he has learned to trace the orbit of the
and think God's thoughts
after him,
because the Father of our spirits has
minds kindred with
his
it
made our
own, and has wrought
such reason in us as shall match the reason he has
wrought into the world.
We
could not win an
answer from Nature to the simplest of our questions,
were there not a community of intelligence
230
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO NATURES
between
But while her order
us.
condition of
all
the eternal
is
our morality, the relations of spirit
between souls open to us new visions of character
beyond the scope of sun and conscious Infinite
In our
break upon our view.
If
we
call
God
is
by the slow
goodness,
way
must take place
at once the witness
we
for us
in
some
and the manifestation
human
see with greater clearness that
which
and
foUies of our mortal days
the growth of loftier ideals. to us first
whom we
is
through our
Above
we dimly apprehend even within our own. the sins
he
Accordingly in the holiest
of the Unseen.
souls
he
if
with himself, such
Our own nature must become
humanity.
if
steps of an age-long ascent
for the high destiny of fellowship
self-disclosure
show
to
the creator and guide of our experience,
training us
self-
only does the highest vision of the
life
himself possessed of what is
star.
They
by the nobler being
live.
we
discern
are revealed
of those
among
These have in their turn learned
from prophet and saint and hero, through
whom
they looked as through a window into whole worlds of beauty, grace,
and
light,
vision on to our hearts.
and they
reflect
the
Paul saw this divine
glory in the face of Jesus Christ
;
and many a
—1 REVELATION AND RECONCILIATION
23
lowly disciple, doubtless, as he listened to the
unwearied preacher of God's love for man, saw the same glory shining in Paul's face.
God, said
the apostle, was reconciling the world in Christ
unto himself.
Was
not the work extended in the
ambassador who pleaded
his
martyr and confessor, and lowly of heart
who have
tion to the great process
and
?
in
the
in
humble and
added their contribu-
For wherever thought
are spent in lo^'ing service for the simplest
life
ends of
all
Lord's cause,
human good, there And to apply
continued.
and the
the ministry of Jesus
that truth in the
school, in the factory
is
home
and the shop,
in
the hospital and the mission, in the exchanges of trade, in the councils of the city this
is
and the
the age-long duty of the Church.
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